The Strongest Color
by Raykes
Summary: [Aizen x Ichigo] Aizen orders for the capture of Ichigo with the intention of convincing him to join his cause. Mysteries surrounding Las Noches unfold, and Ichigo finds himself unexpectedly thrown into the midst of it. DROPPED
1. Captured!

**Title: **The Strongest Color

**Chapter One: **Captured!

**Pairing/Characters: **Aizen/Ichigo, Ulquiorra

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

---

"I have a new assignment for you, Ulquiorra."

Sousuke Aizen calmly announced to the Espada standing in front of him. Ulquiorra stood attentive in the man's presence with his hands behind his back and eyes fixed. He was ready to receive his orders like any obedient follower of Aizen. If his master commands it, he will obey. To him, it was that simple.

"This mission is very important to me," Aizen stated. "If what you reported from the last mission is true, then you should be more than capable to carry this out alone."

"Yes," Ulquiorra replied.

"I don't want any witnesses in this. Anyone who sees you has to be silenced before they cause any trouble. I want you to reveal yourself once the target is alone. First, I want you to try to convince him to come freely. However, if he resists then you have permission to use force, just try to not hurt him too badly. I request that you scan the area for bystanders before returning to Hueco Mundo. You can never be too careful."

"Understood."

"Good. Now, onto the target information."

Aizen turned around to the table sitting behind him and pressed a small button situated on the top of it. The screen beyond the table flashed on, displaying a picture of the mission's target.

"Shinigami representative, Ichigo Kurosaki," Aizen stated, "is your target."

There was a pause in the conversation as Ulquiorra studied the image of the boy. It was that worthless shinigami boy all right. He dropped his gaze from the screen and looked at Aizen.

"Forgive me for saying this Aizen-sama, but..."

The Espada let his arms fall to his sides before he continued.

"That human is not worth your time. To be honest he's pathetic. The boy can't even control the hollow powers inside of him."

Aizen sighed.

"I can't explain it all to you now, Ulquiorra. You just have to trust me on this one."

Ulquiorra nodded.

"Right. If you don't have any more questions on the matter then you are excused."

"Yes, Aizen-sama."

The Arrancar bowed and turned his way to leave. Quietly the door pushed open and he silently excused himself.

Aizen turned to the screen once again, looking back at the picture of the orange-haired shinigami.

"It won't be much longer now. Soon we will be able to see each other again."

"Ichigo..."

- - -

School was over for the remainder of the day for the high school students in Karakura Town. Ichigo Kurosaki, like everyone else, was busy shuffling off the school grounds and off to his destination. Just before he exited the building, Orihime and Rukia asked him if he wanted to come along and get a snack somewhere. Ichigo declined the offer, telling them that he's going straight home after school to do some work.

"Are you sure?" Orihime asked again.

"Maybe some other time."

Ichigo left the two and walked off alone down the sidewalk. He had no plans on going straight home like he had said to the girls. Right now the teenager just wanted to take a walk and think some things over before he planned anything else. The current situation with the Arrancar and his hollow side was a mess. He was a complete mess. Then there was that guy, Shinji. _What did he call himself again? A Vaizard? Yeah, that's what it was_.That was another problem weighing on him as well.

"Dammit," Ichigo swore under his breath.

The boy kept on walking with his bag slung over his shoulder and his hand in his pant's pocket. After a while he felt a little strange, like there was a sudden change in the air or something along those lines. He shrugged, whatever. If it was a hollow, he surely would have been able to feel it by now.

He passed by a group of adolescent girls, all in school uniform, who glanced at him as he went by. One of the girls, a brunette with long, curly hair, whispered to her friends,

"Hey, check out that guy's orange hair."

The pack of girls turned their heads and giggled.

"Tsk." Ichigo looked off the street, annoyed.

He traveled farther down the street and contemplated taking a stop somewhere. He looked off at a line of stores on the other side of the street.

"Ah, forget it," he said and kept moving.

It would be awkward if he ended up going to the same place that Orihime and Rukia decided to eat at. I'll just wait until I get home. There he felt it again. Only this time it was stronger, not a change in the air like last time. Someone, or something for that matter, was following him. He could feel it.

Ichigo looked all around him. Nothing seemed strange or out of place as far as he could see. But it was still there, this feeling, this _presence_. Something clicked in his head, it was like the tick a clock made, but this he could feel in his mind. A voice spoke to him, not out in the material world, but inside his head. It told him,

"Go in the alley. I have something to discuss with you."

"What the hell?" Ichigo looked at his surroundings, then at the alley.

_Nobody's there, I can't see anything but boxes._ Once again, he checked everything around him and then, seeing nothing wrong, advanced in the direction of the alley.

_It's a trap. I know it's a trap. But at the same time..._

Ichigo stepped in the alley and turned around quickly as he then heard a fuzzy sound from behind him. A black wall appeared in front of his eyes, blocking the exit to the alley.

"Ah, dammit. What the hell is going on!" He cried.

"And so we meet again, Ichigo Kurosaki."

Ichigo, upon hearing his name, jumped back around to look upon the man who had set up this trap.

"Bastard," he said, looking at the face of the Espada named Ulquiorra.

The Arrancar made no response to the boy's comment. Ichigo frowned and glanced at the wall behind him. _What the hell is that?_

Ulquiorra stated, "It's a spirit particle wall. Anyone without a significant amount of reitsu cannot see us. All they see is an empty alley, nothing that's out of the ordinary in their everyday lives."

"Heh," Ichigo turned his attention back to the enemy. "I figured it'd be something like that."

He focused his eyes on those of the arrancar's.

"What did you come here for?"

Ulquiorra closed his eyes, "I have a request."

"Hm," Ichigo shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Aizen-sama," he began, "wishes your presence in Hueco Mundo."

"No!" Ichigo replied before he could go any further. "Like I'd fall into another one of your traps that easily. I know what this Aizen guy is like. You really think I'd go there so you can _kill me_!"

The substitute shinigami emphasized the last words, yelling them at Ulquiorra's emotionless face. The man only sighed, showing his annoyance for the boy's assumptions.

"Trust me, _Ichigo,_ if I wanted to kill you I would have done it once you stepped through that wall."

There was a pause before Ulquiorra continued.

"I don't know what Aizen has planned for you, but he gave me specific orders to take you back alive and, for the most part, unharmed."

Ichigo frowned. "The answer is still no. I'm not going to Hueco Mundo, not by my own will."

"So be it."

Ulquiorra leapt at the teen, throwing a punch near his face. Ichigo dodged it easily and jumped to the side, grabbing for his shinigami badge. He hit it against his chest and escaped from his body in shinigami form. Instantly, he grabbed for the hilt of his zanpakuto and unraveled the bandages that covered the blade. He stood ready, carefully watching his opponent. They stood still for the next few moments, watching each other. Ulquiorra didn't attempt to attack Ichigo right away, instead he waited for the boy to make his next move. The shinigami approached him, slashing at the Arrancar with Zangetsu. His enemy dodged and counterattacked with a powerful blow to the gut. Ichigo coughed out blood and before he could recover from that last blow, Ulquiorra came again and landed a hit to his back. The boy was knocked down on the ground face first. He groaned in pain and slowly began pushing himself up. The Espada watched him and before too long told him simply,

"You cannot beat me. You should know that I am far beyond the level of your shinkai."

"Yeah," Ichigo coughed. "I know that."

Ulquiorra's eyes narrowed. "Then why?"

"I knew I couldn't take you on, even with bankai. There's no way I could go all out in a small alleyway like this. That was your plan, wasn't it?"

The Arrancar didn't answer, he only stared blankly at the teen.

"Even so, I knew I couldn't just let you have your way with me. That's why I fought. You see, I wasn't planning on taking orders from a lowlife like you!"

Ulquiorra looked down at Ichigo. "Lowlife...huh."

"Heh," the shinigami boy managed to half smile. He slowly pulled his body up off the ground, trying his best to ignore the pain from his torso.

"You're very stubborn," Ulquiorra sighed. "You should have just stayed down."

"Huh?" Ichigo saw the Arrancar disappear in front of him. Before he could react, however, Ulquiorra had already dealt a hit on him, a blow that knocked him unconscious.

The Espada caught him before he fell to the ground again. He paused and scanned the area, as Aizen requested. Half a mile away he felt the presence of two spirit forces, which he guessed were a couple of the shinigami sent to Karakura by Soul Society.

"It's time to go," he said out loud and opened a portal to Hueco Mundo.

He tightly gripped Ichigo's body and quickly disabled the spirit wall before stepping through the passage. Not long afterwards did he step foot back in his home and carried the boy into Las Noches, where Sousuke Aizen was patiently awaiting his return.

---

All right guys, I have a request for you. I plan on making this story long with lots of little scenes here and there. I encourage you guys to go ahead and send me some ideas (in your review or PM me) since I don't have that much myself. But the ideas I already have planned for this story are going to be pretty awesome, so get ready this is going to be fun!

Chapter Two will be up once I finish writing my other junk. :)


	2. A Reunion of Black & White

**Title: **The Strongest Color

**Chapter Two: **A Reunion of Black & White

**Pairing/Characters: **Aizen/Ichigo, Ikkaku, Yumichika

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

---

He was in a pale white room that was sparsely decorated. The only furniture in the space was a double bed and a night stand on the west side of the room, a small window situated at the top of the north wall, a couch on the east with a closet in the southeast corner, and the door at the southern end. A large, red rug was placed in the middle of the stone floor, which really was the only thing that gave the space some flair. No matter what the room looked like, it was Ichigo's prison. They might as well have put him in an underground cell because with or without the bars and chains, it still had the same effect to him.

The boy woke up twelve minutes ago in this room lying on the top of the bed sheets. Slowly he began to regain his memory of the events that happened to him before he was knocked out. He could remember walking into the alley and fighting with Ulquiorra. After that though, his world had suddenly faded to black when he lost consciousness. The arrancar had said something about Hueco Mundo he realized after a while. He said that Aizen wanted him to come here. The question was, for what purpose?

"I guess I'll be finding that out soon enough," Ichigo told himself.

He slid off the bed and walked over to the door. Laying his hand on the doorknob, he twisted it a few times, but as expected, the door didn't budge.

"Ah, whatever!" Ichigo turned away, feeling a little stupid for thinking that they would keep the door unlocked.

_I'll have to be more creative than that to get out of here._

He walked over to the couch and sat cross-legged on one end closest to the door. Right then he realized that even if he could get out of this room and somehow navigate his way out of Aizen's hideout, the way he was now he wasn't capable of leaving Hueco Mundo. He didn't even have the power to travel in and out of Soul Society by himself let alone the hollow world.

"Dammit," he swore, frustrated.

If he could somehow get his hands on a map or even someone who knows the layout of this place that could help him. Then again, finding an arrancar that would be willing to help him was not going to happen. The Arrancar's loyalties were to Aizen, and ... he couldn't rely on any of them.

Ichigo placed two fingers on his forehead and sighed.

A second later there was a tap on the door and a turning of the doorknob. Ichigo dropped his hand and glanced over at the doorway. It was pushed open by a figure in a white uniform, one unlike the ones the arrancar wore. Ichigo's eyes widened looking upon the man that now passed into his room. It was hard to mistake the look of the captain who had deceived all of Soul Society and the man who had attempted to kill Rukia Kuchiki. Ichigo could never forget.

"Aizen...!!" he stated coldly.

The former 5th Division Captain smiled in response. His piercing eyes focused in on the boy.

"It's a pleasure to have you here, Ichigo Kurosaki."

- - -

Ikkaku let out a big yawn as he was walking alongside Yumichika. During the afternoon, the two 11th Division members participated in something they liked to call "scouting." All it really is is a special name for walking aimlessly around Karakura Town until suppertime rolled around. You see, the men were too proud to admit of ever doing such a thing. If their captain ever found out about them slacking off, he'd personally come down and ... Well, they didn't want to even think about what he'd do. So they figured that _walking about to gather information _would be a better way to describe it. And a lot safer on their part.

Right now 3rd Seat Ikkaku Madarame and 5th Seat Yumichika Ayasegawa were out on one of these "scouting" assignments.

Ikkaku frowned. "I'm sick of this!"

"Of what?" Yumichika asked.

"Of not being able to carry a damn sword around. I mean, what if some guy comes along and wants to pick a fight with me, then what will I do?"

"You could always fight with your fists."

"Yeah sure, then pretty soon I'll be taking over for that Jackie-what's-his-face and star in those movies they show in rooms with junk on the floor and chairs cramped together in aisles. I don't think so, Yumichika! I mean c'mon, it's not even interesting if it isn't life or death."

"I guess," Yumichika sighed. "But hey, Ikkaku, do you want to go stop and get something to eat really quick?"

Once the shinigami finished that sentence, Ikkaku stopped in his tracks. His partner paused as well and turned to ask,

"Is something the matter?"

Ikkaku's expression got serious as he replied saying,

"Something doesn't feel right."

The shinigami looked around him, checking the area for suspicious activity. There weren't any changes he noticed, but that didn't mean much of anything. Before he could give it a second thought, he felt a sudden change in the nearby spirit pressure, or rather spirit pressure that was suddenly stolen from the face of the earth. There was no mistaking that power he had just felt disappear.

"Ichigo!!" Ikkaku called out the boy's name.

Yumichika felt it too. Something that big just disappearing was very hard to not notice.

"I fear for his safety. Hurry Ikkaku. We must go!"

His partner nodded and they took off running to the location where they had felt the reitsu leave. It was only a couple blocks away from where they were at just moments ago. Ikkaku found it strange that he didn't feel anything up until now. Something could have been hiding the spirit pressure before. _Not good. _They stopped at the area within minutes and checked the place for any signs of an arrancar or the substitute shinigami. Yumichika spotted something down the alley and he nudged Ikkaku. Together, they entered the alley and found the body of Ichigo Kurosaki lying face down on the ground. Yumichika ran to it first, flipping the body on it's back. Ikkaku continued to scan the area, checking for any possible enemies that were still hanging around. Yumichika called him over to where Ichigo's body lay and he responded, realizing the enemy had already left the scene.

"There's no soul in his body," Yumichika informed him.

"Then he sure as hell ain't around here anymore."

"Ikkaku, what do you think could have happened?"

"Who knows? But the popular guess would probably be that one of the arrancar got to him."

There was a pause before Yumichika replied.

"If that's the case then we must report this to Captain Hitsugaya."

Ikkaku nodded and picked Ichigo's soulless body off the ground, carrying it on his shoulder.

"Yeah, let's get going."

- - -

A bead of sweat rolled down the side of Ichigo's head. His hands too were wet and sticky from perspiration. The presence of Sousuke Aizen was a bit overwhelming. Unconsciously, he could feel the huge difference in power between him and this man. Right now, the villain could kill him and there wouldn't be a thing Ichigo could do to prevent it. He didn't even have his sword, dammit.

Aizen saw the boy's terrified look and he stated calmly,

"You do not need to fear me, Ichigo. I've only come to welcome you to my home."

"You going to kill me aren't you?" Ichigo asked.

"Now why would I do that?"

"Because you've done it before, I know that well enough. I know that you tried to kill Hinamori and Hitsugaya long after the members of the Central 46 Chambers' blood dried. And right before my very eyes, you ordered for Rukia's death, which wasn't the first time if I heard right. If it wasn't for Unohana and Byakuya..."

"Toushiro, Momo, and Rukia don't mean anything to me. But you, Ichigo, are different. I have no use for you dead."

"I'm not so sure I understand."

Aizen made his way closer to Ichigo, now standing on the rug in front of the boy.

"I want you to feel comfortable when you're here. If there's something wrong you can always tell me and I will gladly fix it."

"I want your word," Ichigo began. "Tell me truthfully whether or not you are planning on killing me."

"I swear to you, Ichigo Kurosaki, that neither me nor anyone else under my command will be taking your life away. That is my word and it is the truth."

"Thanks." _I guess..._

"I'm surprised."

Ichigo looked up at Aizen. "Why's that?"

"You're not going to ask me why I've brought you here?"

"I don't need to. I wasn't really planning on staying here long enough for it to matter anyway."

Aizen smiled.

"I like the way you think. However, escaping from Las Noches isn't as easy as you think. And by yourself, you alone don't have the power to just walk out of Hueco Mundo."

_That's what I figured. _Ichigo lowered his head and looked down at his feet.

Aizen dropped down on one knee and rested a hand on top of Ichigo's shoulder. Looking directly at the substitute shinigami, he said,

"It will be hard getting used to it here, Ichigo, but I'm sure you will come to like it. Show your loyalty to me, and I will give you the power you seek."

Ichigo looked up at Aizen with a surprised expression. Did he know? Was it that obvious?

"I'll give you some time alone," Aizen stated as he stood back up on his feet.

He paced back to the door and opened it up. He looked over his shoulder at where Ichigo still sat and then without another word, slowly closed the door behind him. Ichigo heard a click and then footsteps leading away from his room. After a few minutes when he figured it was okay, he sighed deeply and spread out on the couch. Even though it was around five, he suddenly felt really drowsy. All he felt like doing was lie down to rest. A few minutes past by and his eyelids slowly started to droop. He didn't resist sleep when it came to him and slowly he drifted away.

That was when the dream came.

---

Dun dun dun DUN!!! XD Oh, very sorry for the lateness, I had to finish a research paper and 30 Kisses stuff. Next chapter won't take as long, if all goes as planned.


	3. A Proper Welcome

**Title: **The Strongest Color

**Chapter Three: **A Proper Welcome

**Pairing/Characters: **Aizen/Ichigo, Renji, Kenpachi, Gin, Ilforte, Grimmjow, Ulquiorra, Espada

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

---

Soul Society had called for the immediate execution of the traitor, Ichigo Kurosaki. The trial was short and to the point without any extra drama. All of the ten Gotei 13's current captains were there along with many other shinigami the boy knew, also some he didn't. They all stared at him coldly, forgetting all about the Ichigo they once knew. The hatred had replaced their now forgotten friendliness.

Ichigo was convicted of allying with the hollows, or in other words, treason, having betrayed Soul Society.

The substitute shinigami screamed out in the court, "I was kidnaped! They took me against my will into Hueco Mundo!"

"Silence!!"

The boy was then restrained by Renji Abarai and Kenpachi Zaraki, who gripped his arms to prevent any violence from occurring. But Ichigo still protested against the court.

"You have to believe me! It's the truth, dammit!"

A hard punch to the gut from Kenpachi forced him to keep his mouth shut. Ichigo choked and clenched his teeth to prevent any more outbursts from flying out of his mouth. They continued on with the trial for another twenty minutes as the boy was mercilessly attacked with false accusations by nearly everyone in the room. By the time they got around to reading his sentence, Ichigo was emotionally broken. His head dropped and he only stared at the floor, feeling humiliated. The court session was brought to a close immediately afterwards and Ichigo was taken away. Masked guards stood on all sides of him, leading him out of the room. Once they were outside, Ichigo heard a voice calling to him inside his head,

"How could you them do that to you, Ichigo? And to think you used to refer to them as your friends."

The teen's eyes then zoned in on a figure standing atop a building ahead of him. There he saw him, in his white uniform and evil grin. Ichigo called out to him and Sousuke Aizen disappeared.

- - -

Ichigo woke up screaming something sounding like "Aizen." He immediately broke out in a cold sweat and breathed heavily. That dream had felt all too real to him, real enough to the extent to feel pain. He winced, remembering the blow to the gut he received. There's no way you could feel that in normal dreams.

"What happened to me?" Ichigo wondered in the silence that filled the lonely room.

He laid back down on the couch with his eyes open and alert. He didn't feel the need to sleep anymore, not after that.

- - -

"So, how was he, Aizen?"

Gin Ichimaru, the former 3rd Division Captain, asked the man when he returned to his office. Aizen closed the door behind him and paced toward his comrade standing in front of his desk.

"Fine," he replied. "But the boy held a strong belief that he was sent here to be murdered."

Gin shrugged. "Can't be helped from what Soul Society has probably told him about us."

"That's true." Aizen walked around the desk and seated himself in the chair behind it. "But in the end, it won't matter. In time I'm sure he'll understand that every rose has its thorns. To make such a thing beautiful, you just look past those painful thorns and see it for what the rose is, plucking those thorns away."

"Oh! Very nice. You sound really confident in those beliefs."

"Gin, you should know that better than anyone. I'm not one who takes on a challenge they cannot accomplish. With whatever means are at my disposal, I'll get what I want. This time it's no different."

Gin only smiled in response to Aizen's comment. He never held any doubt against the man's plans ever since they've worked together. Even the plot to deceive Soul Society and stealing the hougyoku, a plan of such a grand scale, their was no thought of failure crossing his mind. Aizen could outwit anyone he needed to. He was powerful, at the peak of a shinigami's potential. Knowing that made it almost impossible to disagree with his ideas.

"Call the Espada together," Aizen ordered. "Tell them to meet in half an hour in the conference room. There are some things I need to go over with them."

"As you wish, Sousuke," Gin replied and exited the room.

Aizen sat back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling above him.

"He should be awake by now," he said out loud, even though no one was around to hear it.

- - -

A tap on the door suddenly brought Ichigo back to his senses. For the last thirteen minutes he was lost in thought, trying to comprehend the meaning of that recent dream. He looked up at the doorway, not even bothering to sit up straight on the sofa.

_What is it now?_

The door was opened by a handsome arrancar with long blonde hair and a remnant of his hollow mask on the top of his head. Ichigo had never seen this one before, but then again the only arrancar he met were Ulquiorra and Yammy. Another arrancar was present behind him he could see. The blonde moved out of the doorway to let him in. A servant by the looks of it, the arrancar pushed a cart filled with food into the middle of the room. The servant quickly scurried away, leaving the other arrancar alone with Ichigo. The young man spoke with his gaze locked onto the substitute shinigami.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, correct?"

"Yeah," the boy replied.

"My name is Ilforte Grantz, 15th Espada. You can just think of me as a temporary nuisance until the time when someone else is entrusted with bringing you your food."

"Do you think I really care?" Ichigo asked.

"Probably not, but I just wanted to tell you anyway, from one 'fifteen' to another. From what I hear though, you'll be with us here for a while."

"Tsk," Ichigo lied back down on his side.

Ilforte then turned to leave without saying another word. The door was locked once again as he departed from the room.

Ichigo stared at the cart sitting in front of him. Realization dawned on him that he hadn't eaten for a good five or six hours since lunch break. He was hungry, but not in the mood to eat anything. His mind was elsewhere, continually running through his options to escape from this place.

There will be a perfect opportunity open for him soon and he wasn't going to let it pass him by. He smiled and lifted himself off the couch and over to the cart. _This is it. _Picking up the glass of water, he put it to his lips and began gulping it down.

- - -

Ilforte arrived back in Ichigo's room half an hour after he left. Ichigo sat upright on the couch, watching the arrancar come into his space. He looked down at the food and then over to Ichigo and frowned.

"You should eat. It's not going to do anybody any good if you don't."

"I'm not hungry. I just ate before you guys brought me here." Ichigo stated, which was a lie.

Ilforte sighed and Ichigo wondered if it was because he had seen through his fib he told him.

"That's fine. Hey you, come in here!"

Before the servant had stepped foot in the room, Ichigo was already up on his feet holding the glass he had concealed in the sofa. He charged at him and smashed the glass square in the 15th arrancar's face. The man screamed, shards of glass causing blood to fall from his face. Quickly the servant came to the door, taking a good look at the horror that befell his superior. Ichigo pushed him aside and ran as fast as he could down the hall.

"Set off the alarms! Alert Aizen and the others quickly!" Ilforte yelled at the servant with his hand over his face.

The arrancar frantically left the doorway and the other man growled.

"That fuckin' shinigami! How could he do that to my beautiful face!"

Ichigo ran hard down the seemingly endless sets of hallways, ignoring his body's need for oxygen. He had to find a way out, where was it? The alarm system was set off now, so it wouldn't be long before the other arrancar found him. _I have to keep running, no matter what._

The conference room was in turmoil. Alarms had just been set off all around Las Noches. What was going on out there? Aizen ordered for the Espada to calm down just as a lonely arrancar servant pushed through the door. He was tired and out of breath, but he quickly began to report the current situation to the occupants of the room.

"The shinigami has escaped! He just attacked Ilforte Grantz and took off not too long ago. He could be anywhere!"

The servant dropped to his knees, trying to catch his breath. Aizen nodded and faced the Espada.

"You heard him. Our precious prisoner has escaped. I want you to search for him in groups and when he's found...use necessary force if you must to stop him."

"Yes, Aizen-sama!" And with that, the Espada left, quickly dispersing in all directions.

Six minutes after Ichigo heard the alarms go off, he spotted his first group of arrancar. They hadn't caught sight of him yet, giving him some time to find a place to hide before that became the problem. Lucky for him there was a door eight feet ahead that he quickly passed through. He stood just behind the door with his ear on the surface. Outside, pairs of footsteps and the sound of a man's voice went by in a rush. Ichigo figured it was the group he'd just seen ahead of him. Or at least he hoped it was. He kept his ear to the door, trying to pick up anything else that could be happening beyond the temporary safety of the room. After five minutes past by, Ichigo slowly pulled the door open. The coast was clear as far as he could tell and he continued running down the halls, every once in a while peering behind his back to check if any of Aizen's men were pursuing him. There was no one around for the last few minutes as he continued sprinting, which troubled him. Surely there must be more after him?

Ichigo turned a corner and pressed onward, keeping a look out for an exit of some sort. _Come on, come on. There's got to be a way out of here. ... Wait! _He saw it up ahead, a pair of dark colored doors. A way out, he was sure of it. With newfound strength, Ichigo continued forward with his eyes set on the passage ahead.

Out of nowhere, an arrancar flew in and knocked Ichigo across the face, stopping in his tracks. The boy had been so focused on the chance of an escape route, he wasn't ready to defend against an attack. The arrancar stood before him, a man with blue hair and part of a hollow's mouth on his cheek. He smiled menacingly at the shinigami representative as he spoke to him,

"That's as far as you go, shinigami."

Ichigo frowned, there's no way some cocky son of a bitch was going to stand in his way now, not when the exit was practically within reach. He pulled his hand into a fist and socked the arrancar on the cheek. The man only smiled and hit back, this time knocking the boy to the ground. Ichigo quickly tried to stand back up on his feet, only to be kicked back down by his enemy.

"Is that all you got?" the arrancar said, taunting him.

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!!" Ichigo screamed and put all his strength into a blow that knocked the man into the wall.

The blue-haired arrancar groaned and pushed his body off of the wall. Ichigo was sure he pissed the guy off now by the looks of it.

The man put his hand on the sword held in his belt, ready to draw it.

"You want to fuck with me, shinigami bitch?!"

Ichigo backed up, not knowing how he would handle fighting back now that this guy had a sword with him.

_Dammit!_

The arrancar smiled and began to pull his blade from its sheath. To Ichigo's favor, however, a familiar voice called from down the hall that made the man stop his attack.

"That's enough, Grimmjow."

The arrancar, Grimmjow, frowned seeing the face of one of his own pace toward the fight.

"Ulquiorra," he muttered under his breath, then looked at Ichigo. "Count your blessings, kid. If it wasn't for my orders, _you'd be dead._"

Ichigo frowned at Grimmjow, he knew if Ulquiorra hadn't come, orders or not, he was sure he was going to kill him. Easily ticked off, I guess.

The Espada, Ulquiorra, walked up to where the two were standing and stared at Grimmjow, who did a good job of ignoring him up until now.

"Do Aizen-sama's orders mean that little to you, Grimmjow? Try that again, and I'll be the first to kill you."

"Heh. Do you really care that much about this brat or do you have a bone to pick with me? Huh? Do I piss you off, Ulquiorra?"

The Espada only stared back at the other arrancar, not wanting to get into a pointless quarrel with an Espada of a lower rank than he. Not a moment too soon, Sousuke Aizen and a couple other arrancar had found the location of the trio and advanced ahead to meet with them. Ulquiorra lowered his head to bow for his master. Ichigo looked down at the Espada and then up at Aizen. He turned around and took a step toward the dark doors ahead of him. Instantly ahead, a group of arrancar appeared, blocking the passageway. Trapped.

"Good work, Ulquiorra," Aizen nodded to the Espada. "Grimmjow."

The blue-haired Espada looked at Aizen, no words escaping his mouth. He could tell just by looking at them exactly what had happened. Aizen didn't say anymore to the two and looked straight into Ichigo's eyes.

"Now do you get it when I told you it's impossible to escape Hueco Mundo, Ichigo?"

"Yeah, I get it," Ichigo replied and looked around at the arrancar, "now."

Aizen smiled and looked around at the ten Espada surrounding him. He walked up next to the shinigami representative and placed his arm along the boy's back, gripping his shoulder.

"Ichigo, these are my ten strongest subjects, the Espada." He paused. "And Espada, this is Ichigo Kurosaki, soon to be the newest member of our team here in Hueco Mundo."

---

The last part was a little rushed, but hopefully still good. I got quite a few characters in on this chapter, which is pretty awesome I think. And now I am going to go rest my brain since I cannot think anymore. Bleh.


	4. The Obligations of a Subordinate

**Title: **The Strongest Color

**Chapter Four: **The Obligations of a Subordinate

**Pairing/Characters: **Aizen/Ichigo, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Toushiro, Rangiku, Renji, Rukia, Orihime, Chad, Kon, Grimmjow, Noitra, Ulquiorra.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

---

The shinigami stationed in the real world called for an emergency meeting. They all congregated inside Orihime's apartment, the designated location to meet up at. Once everyone had arrived, Ikkaku slowly explained the current situation to Captain Hitsugaya, Lieutenants Abarai and Matsumoto, Rukia Kuchiki, and the others who attended, Orihime, Chad, and Kon (who was now inside Ichigo's human body). Once the 11th Division's 3rd Seat was finished with his report, the room fell into silence for the next minutes that followed. It was very disturbing news to them all who were Ichigo's friends.

Ikkaku sighed, "I'm sorry Captain Hitsugaya, there wasn't anything Yumichika nor I could do, it was too late when we arrived on the scene."

Toushiro nodded. "I understand, Ikkaku. You did your best."

"But," Renji began, "what would Aizen need Ichigo for? He's not going to be of any use to them, he won't follow their orders, and if they wanted to kill him they certainly could have done it here."

"Yes," Rangiku agreed. "It's certainly not making any sense."

"Well if you're looking at it from a general point of view, no," Rukia stated. "Maybe it's got a deeper meaning to it than what we know."

"Are you saying you might have a clue about this?" Yumichika asked.

"Maybe, a little," Rukia replied. There was always _that_. The hidden power Ichigo kept locked inside of him. It was a possibility anyway.

"What is it, Rukia?" Orihime asked looking concerned.

"No, I'm sorry. It's nothing."

"I think you have the right idea though," Toushiro said. "We'll have to take a harder look into it."

Rukia nodded at the 10th Division Captain.

"I'm going to need to get online with the Commander General. Soul Society's going to need this information."

Toushiro pointed a finger at the huge screen that was set up in the room. It was their main contact with Soul Society from the real world.

Rukia turned to Orihime, who sniffled once. She held her head down as tears dropped from the girl's eyes and slid slowly down her cheeks. Rukia put her arm around Orihime to try to comfort her a little.

"Don't cry, Orihime. Ichigo's strong, he can take care of himself. You shouldn't worry about him."

"I know, Rukia. But still..." Orihime wiped away a tear from her face.

"I'm sure right now he's probably out there giving those arrancar hell."

Orihime laughed. "Yeah, that's just like him."

Chad and Kon stood off from the crowd in one corner. Kon, with the lion plush in his hands, seemed distracted. Chad, who stood next to him, was silent for the most part during the meeting. Like the others, they didn't have a whole lot to say.

The room was silent once the screen was turned on, static filling the space. A few seconds later, the image of a shinigami appeared to the group.

"Captain Hitsugaya, how can I help you?" the unseated officer asked.

"I need to speak to Commander General Yamamoto," Toushiro said. "Tell him it's urgent."

- - -

Grimmjow stormed through Las Noches' halls, annoyed and ticked off from the recent events involving the spiky-haired shinigami. What the hell makes Aizen think that pussy is worth anything?

_Aizen smiled and placed his arm along Ichigo's back, gripping his shoulder. _

"_Ichigo, these are my ten strongest subjects, the Espada. And Espada, this is Ichigo Kurosaki, soon to be the newest member of our team here in Hueco Mundo."_

_Ichigo looked at Aizen, eyes wide in surprise. The man gazed back at him, a hint of pleasure in his grin. _

_Grimmjow stepped forward, a disapproving frown formed on his lips._

"_You really think that shinigami's going to be associated with us?_ _The little punk doesn't even have the power to defeat our weakest Espada."_

_The 6__th__ Espada spit on the floor. _

"_He's nothing but trash, Aizen, just like all the other shinigami friends of his!" _

_Ichigo had enough of Grimmjow's talk by now. The boy clenched his hand into a fist and landed a blow on him under the arrancar's chin._

"_Take that back you bastard!" he yelled._

"_Give me one good reason why I should, bitch!" the arrancar shot back._

_Ichigo stared at Grimmjow in hot red anger. The Espada had provoked him well enough to the point of fighting. He did it on purpose and Ichigo knew that, though right now he didn't care._

"_Say that again and I'll kill you!"_

"_Enough!!"_

_Aizen grabbed Ichigo's right wrist before he was able to land another punch on Grimmjow. The substitute shinigami frowned and struggled against the man's grip._

"_Aizen, let me go!"_

"_Calm down, Ichigo. There's no point in fighting with him," Aizen stated._

"_Like hell there is!"_

_Ichigo tried again to escape, to lunge at Grimmjow and throw another punch at his face but Aizen only held on tighter._

"_Grimmjow," Aizen said looking at the 6__th__ Espada, "go back to the conference room. You're done here."_

"_Tck," the arrancar turned away and walked out of the crowd, hands shoved in his pockets._

_Once he was out of earshot, one of the Espada, an arrancar named Noitra exclaimed,_

"_That was some ruckus those two made. It's to be expected from Grimmjow I guess. Too bad though, the kid could have roughed him up some more before he left."_

"_What are you saying Noitra?" Ulquiorra glanced in his direction._

"_I'm just sayin' it's about time someone decided to beat the crap out of Grimmjow, teach him not to act so cocky."_

"_Hm," Ulquiorra sighed and looked back again at Ichigo._

_Aizen had released his grip on the boy's wrist now. He was standing next to him looking a little more calm than he did a minute ago. Maybe Grimmjow deserved to get beat up, but that didn't mean the shinigami boy deserved the wounds he was given any less than him. They both have the tenancy to jump into fights without much of a thought and at times were a little cocky._

_Ulquiorra stared deeper at Ichigo for a second then turned away. He would return to the conference room with Grimmjow ahead of the others. He'd had enough of this by now._

- - -

Ichigo was promptly returned to his room, where he stayed for the remainder of the evening. The boy spent his night in Hueco Mundo asleep under the covers of the bed. For the next ten hours his body and mind rested in complete peace. A knock on the door had brought him back to consciousness in the morning the following day.

Ichigo groaned. He was still feeling drowsy, but he forced himself to sit up in the bed. The door opened seconds later and Ulquiorra stepped in followed by a servant pushing another cart into the room. Once it was parked on the rug in the center of the room, the servant pulled something out from below the cart. It was a box, which he set down on the couch across from the bed. The servant left immediately and closed the door as he did so. Ichigo looked at the package with the curiosity of a child. He figured it was probably sent from Aizen. Or Grimmjow. You never know. The guy could have sent him a bomb or something to get back at him for last night.

Ulquiorra looked over at Ichigo. "Good morning," he greeted without any enthusiasm.

"Ah," Ichigo rubbed his cheek in the area where Grimmjow had hit him yesterday. His wounds hurt a little more now than they did last night.

"You should try to avoid him for a while, Ichigo." Ulquiorra told him. "You'd be a lot better off that way."

"No," the boy replied. "I still have to pay him back for-"

"Save it," the 4th Espada handed him a wet cloth.

"Uh, thanks." Ichigo took it and held it on his cheek.

"The arrancar have been given orders not to kill you, but I cannot guarantee Grimmjow will follow them. I also have no assurance that I can save you the next time you fight either."

"I didn't ask you to save my life back there and I really didn't want you to."

"I wasn't doing it for you, Ichigo Kurosaki. I was doing it for Aizen-sama. What do you think he would have done to Grimmjow if he'd have killed you? How do you think he would have felt about that? None of that crossed your mind I'm sure. What do you care anyway, we're all enemies to you and Soul Society isn't that right?"

"You've got one thing right. Yeah, I don't care what happens to you guys. Why should I? You were the one who came down with that other big guy that beat up my friends. That's a good reason not to like you and your friends."

"That's what I expected you to say."

Ulquiorra turned his back to Ichigo and was silent for a while. The shinigami ignored him and let his legs hang off the side of the bed. He dropped the wet cloth from his cheek which had helped a little in easing the pain of his wound. Ichigo looked down at the cloth then up at Ulquiorra who continued to face away from the boy. He sighed with annoyance toward the Espada's sudden change in attitude and hopped off the bed.

He said, "You know if you don't like me you can leave, it's not like you're going to hurt my feelings."

"I've got orders to keep an eye on you," Ulquiorra stated casually.

"Is that so? Well, unless you have a pair of eyes on the back of your head, you're not doing a good job of following orders it'd seem."

Ulquiorra wasn't amused by Ichigo's attempt at a joke. He ignored it and asked,

"You didn't eat anything last night did you?"

The Espada faced Ichigo again. The shinigami didn't respond, it wasn't one of those questions a person would answer to. He knew the boy hadn't eaten any supper. Ilforte probably informed Aizen of that fact, who in turn passed it onto Ulquiorra along with a "make sure you have him eat" order of some sort. Ichigo frowned.

"I didn't eat because I didn't want to and that's it," Ichigo stated simply. "I didn't do it as resistance or to piss you guys off. I can think of many other ways to do that."

"Like break out of your room," the arrancar said.

"Hey, I didn't break out, the door was wide open when I escaped."

"You took that opening to escape from your room, so why didn't you take advantage of the opening I created when I stopped your fight with Grimmjow?"

Ichigo was silent for a few seconds.

"I don't know," he said finally.

"That's a lie."

"Did you want me to escape?"

"Don't change the subject."

"Why did you create an opening for me, Ulquiorra?" Ichigo yelled.

The 4th Espada paused then said,

"I wanted to see..."

"What?" Ichigo sounded impatient.

"I wanted to see if you were serious about escaping. What was holding you back then Ichigo? The door was right there in front of you."

"It wasn't an exit."

"It wasn't?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Ulquiorra! When you came, I could feel a force behind it. It felt like a goddamn monster or something!"

Ulquiorra didn't say anything in response.

"What was it? What was behind that door?"

"We don't need to discuss that now. You should eat your breakfast."

Ichigo complied with the arrancar's request and walked over to the cart. He grabbed the bowl of rice and a pair of chopsticks and took a seat on the couch. His attention carried to the package that was left by the servant on his way out. There was a note on it addressed to him. Ichigo pulled the paper off and held it in his hand. Slowly he opened it and set it on his lap. He read the contents of the letter in between bites of rice and under the watchful eye of Ulquiorra.

It read:

_Ichigo-_

_I hope you slept well last night. You caused quite a commotion yesterday escaping from your room like that. Maybe I shouldn't have underestimated you like that. A Numeros wouldn't be up to your level, not as you are now. _

_I would like to visit with you today so we can talk. I'll have some fine tea made for us and you can leave your room for a while. Someone will be sent for you in the afternoon, try to behave this time will you?_

_The package is for you, I would like it if you would wear it when you come._

_-Aizen_

Ichigo finished reading it and took the last bite out of his rice. He set the letter back down on the packageand read the last line over again.

_Wear what?_

He looked up at Ulquiorra, feeling his gaze on him the whole time he was reading it. The Espada asked,

"You're not going to open it?"

"Later," Ichigo set the empty bowl on the cart and took the other bowl that was filled with miso soup and returned to the couch.

He sipped the soup out of the bowl until it was gone and placed that back on the cart as well. A glass of water sat next to the bowl. Ichigo picked it up and gulped the water down his throat.

"Ahh..." he set the empty glass back on the cart.

The boy suddenly felt a little better now that his stomach was full. Hunger usually caused him to get irritated a little easier. He looked over at Ulquiorra who wasn't really paying any attention to him anymore. Ichigo sighed loudly making the arrancar turn his head toward him.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Nothing, you looked a little spaced out though."

"I guess."

There was a tap on the door and the arrancar servant walked in. Ulquiorra made his way back toward the door and the other arrancar got to the cart. The 4th Espada waited until he pulled it out of the room to continue on his way. He turned back to Ichigo before he left.

"See you tomorrow," he said and closed the door.

"Looking forward to it," Ichigo sighed.

His attention went to the box that sat untouched next to him. He wanted to wait until Ulquiorra left to open it just for privacy. Psh, he probably knew what it was anyway.

Ichigo lifted the top off of the box, checking the contents inside. What he saw didn't impress him and he tossed the package across the room to the floor. He frowned and folded his arms across his chest.

"That bastard," he swore.

The box had toppled over on the ground, a white uniform with black trim came spilling out from the inside.

"I'm not going to be one of them." He pictured the trial from the dream in his mind. "I promised to myself that wasn't going to happen to me."

---

Me (this morning): "I wrote sixteen pages for this chapter and what happened? Nothing!" I was just kidding though. And look Ichigo made a friend! Grimmjow. I hope you guys are keeping up with the lastest chapters cause I'll be spoiling them for you if you don't. 4th Espada, who's that?


	5. State of Mind

**Title: **The Strongest Color

**Chapter Five: **State of Mind

**Pairing/Characters: **Aizen/Ichigo, Tousen, Soi Fong, Shunsui, Nanao, Komamura, Iba, Kenpachi, Nemu, Mayuri, Juushiro, Sentaro, Kiyone, Retsu, Byakuya, Yamamoto, Toushiro, Isshin

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

---

A quick knock-knock from beyond the closed door broke Aizen's concentration. He set down the handful of papers he was reading and looked ahead.

"Come in," he called to his visitor.

The man pushed open the door and in silence closed it again. Aizen smiled and greeted him.

"Welcome, Kaname."

The former 9th Division Captain nodded and approached him. He stopped a few paces from the desk Aizen sat behind and began saying,

"Aizen-sama, forgive me for the intrusion."

"No Kaname, its fine." He paused, looking deeper at the man. "What is it that you wanted to discuss?"

"Aizen-sama, about what happened yesterday..."

"You mean when Ichigo Kurosaki escaped?"

"No, when he was captured." He stopped then added, "The first time. I don't think it was wise for Ulquiorra to have left the boy's body in the real world. Soul Society will find out about this, they'll know it was us behind it. By then it will only be a matter of time before they come for him."

Aizen smiled.

"You shouldn't worry about that, Kaname. Soul Society won't be so reckless as to send shinigami into Hueco Mundo, not without information and certainly not for saving one shinigami representative."

"That's true but what about the others? The ones without ties to Soul Society."

"The humans? You forget Kaname, who lead them into Soul Society in the first place. It was Ichigo. If it wasn't for his leadership and action, those kids would have never dared to tread on such dangerous ground. They are unguided, no one to take charge of them and send them off on such suicidal missions. I'm sure even Kisuke Urahara would have enough sense to not allow them passage here, not in their current state."

"As you say, Aizen-sama," Tousen replied.

"But you brought up a good point there. I guess we'll have to keep an eye on their activity from here on."

Tousen agreed. The former 5th Division Captain then changed the subject.

"You've never been properly introduced to the boy from what I recall," Aizen said. "Have you, Kaname?"

"No, I haven't," the blind shinigami replied, "formally met him."

"You could always visit him when he's in his room. Introduce yourself and get to know him for a while."

"Do you think he will agree with us?"

"Gin asked me the same thing yesterday." Aizen looked down at his papers. "We'll just have to see how it plays out. It'll take some time. But as they say, good things come to those who wait."

"I believe in you, Aizen-sama." Tousen stated.

Aizen grinned. "Thank you, Kaname."

After that was over, Tousen turned around, taking a few steps only to stop at the door.

"If you'll excuse me then."

"Of course. Thank you for coming."

Tousen stepped into the hall and glanced at the closed door behind him. Softly he said,

"Protect him, Aizen. If your feelings are true, then..."

His voice faded for a second.

"Losing someone close to you, the feeling as strong as that will never leave you."

The shinigami silently began to remember her. The most beautiful woman in his memory, taken from him. Her death was too painful for Kaname. He wouldn't let Aizen fall to that. No, he certainly wouldn't allow it to happen.

The death of one young soul reaper would cause the downfall of all of Hueco Mundo as they knew it.

- - -

"Continue with your training!" the stern voice of 2nd Division Captain Soi Fong rang out amongst the squad members. "I'm stepping out for a while."

"Yes ma'am!" the men shouted.

"What are we being called out for this time I wonder?" Shunsui sighed. "I'll be leaving then, Nanao."

"Of course, have a nice meeting," the man's lieutenant shooed him away.

"A Captain's meeting?" Komamura asked.

"Yes sir. The hell butterfly just sent the news," Iba answered to his captain.

"What did it say?" Kenpachi asked, sheathing his zanpakuto.

"It's a call for an emergency Captain assembly," Nemu said to Mayuri.

"They sure called for it at a perfect time," the 12th Division Captain sounded annoyed.

"There's no need to get upset," Juushiro sighed trying to calm down Sentaro and Kiyone. "I'll be back soon."

"But sir are you sure?" they asked at the same time.

"I feel fine, really. You don't need to worry about me."

"Just worry about your patient," Retsu stated. "I've got to get going, Isane."

"I'm leaving, Hisana," Byakuya said quietly to the picture of his departed wife. "It won't take long."

"How long must you keep an old man waiting?" Yamamoto said impatiently.

The captains of Soul Society had assembled now in the 1st Division meeting room immediately after receiving the notice via the hell butterflies. Nine of the captains were present, now awaiting the arrival of the 10th Captain, Toushiro Hitsugaya. Yamamoto had insisted that all the commanding captains show up at the meeting.

All together they stood in silence and suddenly the doors opened up producing an outline of the small figure that was the last person to arrive.

"So we are all here," Yamamoto said as Toushiro took his place in line with the others.

"Now then," the 1st Division Captain hit his stick on the floor, "Shall we begin?"

- - -

Ichigo followed silently behind a tall, dark arrancar who was sent to retrieve the boy and escort him to Aizen. The shinigami had remembered his face being amongst the Espada when they all appeared out in the hall with their master. The man frowned the whole time Ichigo was with him. His most noticeable physical trait included the remnants of a hollow mask formed into spikes that went vertically across his head like a mohawk. He didn't address Ichigo by name and avoided any eye contact the boy made when he looked at him. The only words that he'd uttered to him were "come with me" and that was it.

As they paced down the hall, Ichigo contemplated whether he should ask the arrancar's name, but didn't get the chance. The two had reached their destination apparently, the black man had stopped in front of a small, white door. Ichigo stood next to him and the Espada opened the door for him, keeping his body in the hallway the entire time.

Ichigo walked in and heard the door shut behind him. This is it then. Almost immediately, his gaze fell on Sousuke Aizen's figure. The man was looking straight at him, standing in the center of the sitting room. The shinigami boy held up his right hand at the same level as his head and greeted casually,

"Yo!"

Aizen cracked a smile and waved back, amused by Ichigo's "cool" gesture. He dropped his hand down to his side and his smile faded from his lips.

"Ichigo," he began, "is there something wrong?"

"What? I'm feeling fine." Ichigo said this even though he knew he wasn't. It was strange, whenever he'd get nervous his overall attitude changed. Could Aizen sense that? Probably.

He didn't know what Aizen would do to him now. Maybe it was a mistake to do this. _No, dammit! What am I thinking?_

"Don't you want to change your clothes? They're probably dirty, wearing them all day and then sleeping in them."

"I didn't sleep in my clothes," Ichigo said with a straight face.

"W-What was that?" Aizen's brown eyes widened a little in response to the boy's comment.

"Uh, I wasn't being serious when I said that, Aizen."

"Of course you weren't," the man cleared his throat. "It's really not like you to make jokes in front of someone you consider your enemy."

"Maybe."

Ichigo was so nervous. He didn't know how Aizen would respond when the man saw his attire, the same old back robes he was so accustomed to. He'd try to lighten up the mood when the topic came up rather than ignore it altogether. Right now though he felt as if he shouldn't have done it. Aizen's reaction wasn't what he was going for when he said that last statement.

_What the fuck was that? I don't want to know!_

"What's the big deal? I wore the same set of clothes for days without changing when I broke into Soul Society. This shouldn't be much different."

"Desperate times, desperate measures," Aizen sighed.

"We don't need to talk about this anymore do we?" Ichigo really wanted to talk about something else.

"No, we'll move on to something else."

Aizen motioned toward a small circular table off to the west side of the room. Ichigo followed him to it, taking a seat on of the two chairs sitting next to the table. A kettle of tea and two cups were placed on the top. Aizen took the tea kettle, and tipping it above Ichigo's cup, began to pour the boy some of the hot beverage.

"Thank you," Ichigo said.

If there was anything good Ichigo had been taught by his father, it was to thank people when they gave you something. Isshin had always reminded him of that when he was young, especially on his birthday.

"Always be polite," he would tell his son. "You should always praise the good deeds one does for you. Whether you like that person or not has nothing to do with it."

It was then that Ichigo would always reply with, "But what if a person gives me drugs or alcohol? What about that?"

"Well Ichigo if you don't want them then give them to me," his dad would reply and laugh.

_He was always acting weird. I got one of the craziest dads of them all._

Ichigo focused back in on reality, having spaced out for a second or two. Aizen now sat across from him with his cup filled with the steaming liquid like his own. The man gazed at Ichigo and asked,

"Do you usually drink tea back at home, Ichigo?"

"Um no not really. My dad does more than anybody else in my house, but I've never really gotten into it."

"I see." Aizen paused. "If you don't mind me asking, what does your father do for a living?"

Ichigo now felt it was a little strange how he was talking to a man like him, an enemy to Soul Society, so casually. Strange, but it was nice in a way.

"My dad owns a clinic. He works as a doctor there. It can be a little annoying at time though, since the clinic is in the same building as our house."

"Why's that?" Aizen brought his cup to his lips, sipping the tea from it.

"He's always there to bug you. You can't get away from him unless you go to school or out with friends. And when he does come home, he's always there waiting for his chance to fly in and drop kick you. Agh!"

Aizen smiled in amusement. "You get along well with Isshin then don't you."

Ichigo frowned and began to describe about all the strange things he father liked to do at home. How he worships a poster of his mother and how once when he was little he made the boy do ten pushups for every piece of candy he ate on Halloween.

It never crossed his mind at the time and he didn't question how Aizen knew the name of his father. Maybe with all these others things weighing down on him in his mind, he wasn't paying any attention.

It probably was a bad idea to miss something like that. Those types of things tend to come back and haunt the person who wasn't listening to them.

---

I enjoyed writing the Soul Society part of this chapter, it was much fun. Suprisingly I didn't have to change a whole lot of the text from my rough draft when I typed this up onto my computer. That makes me happy and I got to finish it an hour earlier than usual. Woo!


	6. The Calm Before the Storm

**Title: **The Strongest Color

**Chapter Six: **The Calm Before the Storm

**Pairing/Characters: **Aizen/Ichigo, Yamamoto, Kenpachi, Juushiro, Shunsui, Soi Fong

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

---

"I've got bad news to share with all of you," Yamamoto said, addressing the shinigami Captains.

He paused and took a look around the room at the nine faces that stood before him. They listened intently, waiting for the Commander General to give the news which must have been something obviously important if it called for a Captain meeting.

"Today, this afternoon there was another attack made in Karakura Town where Captain Hitsugaya's team was stationed. We detected for a short period of time the spirit energy of an arrancar, one who has been confirmed to have come down on the first assault. And just like last time, the arrancar's target was Shinigami Representative Ichigo Kurosaki."

The old man took a deep breath and continued.

"There is evidence that a fight broke out between the two in an alleyway. Our detectors couldn't pick up any spirit energy during that short lapse of time. But whatever happened during the battle isn't the problem here. What we must realize is that Ichigo Kurosaki has left the real world and entered into Hueco Mundo."

"What?" the mass of captains said out loud at different periods. Yamamoto continued on.

"Third seat Ikkaku Madarame and fifth seat Yumichika Ayasegawa of the 11th Division were the first to arrive on the scene. There they found nothing but the soulless human body of Ichigo Kurosaki and that was all. Immediately they reported to Captain Toushiro Hitsugaya who in turn sent news to me. Are there any questions regarding this matter?"

The captains stood in silence.

"At this point we cannot be making assumptions. We do not know if Ichigo willingly went to Hueco Mundo since we can't get any hard evidence that he did indeed fight against the arrancar as the area shown. We have no clues or leads as to why all this happened. Aizen's motives are still unknown. Right now we might as well know nothing about this incident."

Yamamoto told this to the shinigami around him, trying to keep his voice calm.

"Soul Society will wait this out for now. No troops will be sent in, not with as little information as we have now. I will not allow anyone to venture into Hueco Mundo unless if I give orders to do so. Are we clear on that gentlemen?"

"Yes," came the reply from everyone in the room.

"I hope you all do your best when the time for action comes. Until then you will all keep your word to me and to your fellow captains standing here. One wrong move and it could plunge our beloved Soul Society into darkness. The protection of our homeland is priority number one, all others will follow after that."

"I can't agree with your decision, Commander."

That statement came from the mouth of Captain Kenpachi Zaraki who then took a step out of the group.

"Captain Zaraki," the Commander General said. "Do you not want to protect Soul Society?"

"It's not that which I don't agree with. It's your decision to leave Ichigo out there in Hueco Mundo. Do you want Aizen to get a hold of his great powers and use them against us in the winter war? What would that mean for us, for Soul Society? That is what could cost us our precious Soul Society to fall as you say. Commander, I can send my squad in after him. My men are more than capable for the job."

"The answer is no, Zaraki." Yamamoto said coldly. "I won't have you sending our strongest shinigami to Hueco Mundo just to get them slaughtered!"

"You don't know my men!" Kenpachi yelled. "They are _my _soldiers, and their loyalties lie to their Captain not to you. I know better than anyone here what they are or are not capable of. Besides..."

Kenpachi paused for a second.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, I still haven't paid him back. I won't be able to die peacefully if I didn't do that."

"Zaraki, I'm warning you do not let your feelings control your actions. You might get yourself into a bad situation quicker than you think."

"Commander," the 13th Captain, Juushiro Ukitake stepped forward. "I have to agree with Kenpachi on one point. Leaving Ichigo Kurosaki out in Hueco Mundo could be something we shouldn't allow. With his high spiritual pressure Aizen could quite well turn the boy into a monster."

"It's just like he said," the 8th Captain, Shunsui Kyoraku began, "Aizen said before he left that he was interested in his powers."

"Or interested in him in general," the 2nd Captain, Soi Fong replied.

"What do you mean?" Shunsui looked at her.

"I mean what I said. Aizen is interested in Ichigo."

"Is that what your feminine instinct tells you, because Nanao talks a lot about that when she comes up with things like that."

Soi looked annoyed as she glanced away from Shunsui without a verbal response.

"Your orders are to remain the same until further notice. Gather up evidence and information whenever you can if you like your orders to get changed. Make sure that it's something you can prove, none of this 'feminine instinct'."

Yamamoto stared at Shunsui when he said those last few words.

"That is all. This meeting is dismissed!"

- - -

It was three cups of tea into the conversation when Aizen decided it was time to wrap up his little conversation with Ichigo. He looked up from his cup to Ichigo's face and said,

"I will accompany you back to your room, Ichigo."

Ichigo opened his mouth to say something but Aizen stopped him.

"You don't get a choice in the matter so save your breath."

The boy frowned. _Is that an order?_ He thought, but didn't say it before Aizen.

"Come, Ichigo." Aizen held a hand out to the boy.

The shinigami ignored it and got up from his chair on his own.

"Lead the way," he said.

Aizen dropped his arm back to his side and walked toward the door, Ichigo following closely behind. Together they entered out into the hallway from the room and Aizen looked again at Ichigo.

"I want you to walk beside me from here on."

"Umm..." Ichigo felt a drop of sweat trickle down the side of his head. "You mean for the next five minutes or well, for the rest of the time that I'm with you." _Okay, maybe he didn't mean it like _that _but it sure sounded like something they'd say on a cheesy movie or something._

Aizen smiled. "Interpret it however you wish."

_I'll go with my first option then, please and thank you._

Ichigo got up next to Aizen and they then made their way down the white hallways to the boy's room. The substitute shinigami was silent for the first few minutes of the trip until he felt compelled to say,

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," Aizen replied.

"Why do you want to spend all this time with me? Ever since I got here, you've been making visits, a lot of visits. I thought I was just a prisoner here."

"You are my guest, Ichigo. I want to make you feel comfortable. I know the arrancar probably aren't your kind of company."

"That's for sure." Ichigo thought of Grimmjow.

"Is that all you wanted to know?"

"Yeah, sure."

There was another pause in the conversation. Ichigo had become lost in thought as they paced down Los Noches for the next couple minutes. So lost in thought, he wasn't focusing on how he was walking. He lightly bumped into Aizen as they went straight down the corridor and quickly backed off apologizing.

"Sorry," he said.

Aizen looked toward him then without saying a word. Another second later, a shriek rang through the walls and down the hallway. It sounded like someone was in trouble.

Ichigo didn't think, his instinct took over and he ran ahead to where he thought the cry came from. He ignored Aizen's call for him to stop. _If I get in trouble for saving someone's life, well it's not like it hasn't happened to me before._ Ichigo kept on running forward.

A right turn, straight, left turn, where did it come from again? _Ah, dammit Ichigo think!_

He kept his pace, continuing to move on. Running at this point wasn't a problem, but what happened to the girl he just heard? At least he thought it was a girl, that's what it sounded like.

_I'm coming dammit whoever you are!_

One more turn and Ichigo faced forward, now stopped in his tracks. There it was right in front of him, the black doors. Beyond it, there was another scream. Ichigo couldn't make it out but he was almost positive it was a call for help. He took a step and was ready to sprint toward the doors, but that feeling of a strong monstrous reitsu radiated into the area. It felt like the first time he had run into Kenpachi Zaraki in Seireitei, bloodlust along with a powerful spiritual pressure. This one, however, was a lot stronger.

_What the hell is going on?_

"Ichigo," Aizen called to him, having just caught up to the boy. "What's wrong?"

"I heard somebody scream just now. I thought there was trouble."

Aizen stared back at him then at the doors at the end of the hall.

"Aizen, I swear it wasn't meant as an escape!"

"Yes, I believe you Ichigo. I heard it too."

"Then, do you know about it?"

"It's okay, Ichigo, there's nothing to fear. It's just training."

Ichigo looked at Aizen in disbelief.

"From now on, Ichigo, I want you to ignore any of the screams you here coming out of this area. I also want to keep your distance from that room."

Aizen gestured toward the black doors.

"A room? I thought it was an exit before. Why do I have to stay away from it?"

"It's dangerous, just keep away from this area."

Ichigo took one last look on the twin black doors. There were no more screams and the strong feeling had altogether disappeared ever since Aizen had come along. It was quiet, almost like nothing had ever happened.

The boy was about to turn his head away when he heard the sound of a savage beast call to him in his mind.

"_Human. Eleven."_

Ichigo turned away, trying not to look disturbed by the voice. He wouldn't show it in front of Aizen. Next to him, the shinigami representative went quietly back to his room and was locked back in.

"You'll be all right by yourself then, Ichigo?" Aizen asked before he left.

"Yeah, of course. None of that did a thing to intimidate me." Ichigo replied.

"That's good. I'll see you sometime soon, Ichigo."

Now the boy was alone to himself again. Alone to think. Alone to wonder why he's been leaded to those two black doors not once but twice in the two days he's been here.

There was a lot he didn't know, and he was going to get some answers. If Aizen didn't want to talk about it, then there was always _him_. He really didn't like talking to the guy, but then again he didn't really have much of a choice.

---

I'm pretty sure you guys can guess who Ichigo was talking about in that last paragraph without me even telling you. Oh I'm sorry this chapter got up a little later than what I had intended. I was preoccupied with reading _Zodiac _this weekend and I didn't get a lot of writing in. But the chapter is up! And for those of you who have beening waiting for what seems like forever, I will confirm that Ichigo is going to be forced into that dreaded white uniform he hates so much in Chapter Seven. Until then!


	7. Wash Away the Dark Color

**Title: **The Strongest Color

**Chapter Seven:** Wash Away the Dark Color

**Pairing/Characters: **Aizen/Ichigo, Ulquiorra, Gin

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

---

The beginning of the third day got off on a bad start. Ichigo was still asleep in his bed when it was time for his routine breakfast time. Ulquiorra once again attended the servant into the boy's room this particular morning. Ichigo had heard them come in, but ignored the two and kept his face down against the pillow. Ulquiorra frowned, keeping his hands in his pockets and stared down at the lazy teenager motionless in his bed.

"Wake up, Ichigo," his voice was impassive.

"I am awake," the boy replied, a phrase he would often say to his father and sisters at home.

"Get up. I don't want to start forcing you out of bed now."

"I'll get up when I feel like it okay? Calm down."

Ichigo continued to lie silently under the sheets for the next few minutes with his eyes open. Then slowly he sat up and yawned, by now realizing Ulquiorra was probably giving him the evil eye behind his back. He looked over in the arrancar's direction and straight to his face, stuck in a frown at all times.

"You always such a ray of sunshine, Ulquiorra?" Ichigo asked.

The 4th Espada ignored his words as usual and went to go stand by the north wall of the room where he remained in silence. Ichigo had decided to wait until he finished his breakfast before making another attempt to talk to the guy.

_Why does he have to act so bored and serious every second of his life? _Ichigo wondered.

Breakfast went by almost the same way as it did yesterday. Ichigo ate and Ulquiorra stood off to the side without much of anything to say. The shinigami representative looked up from his rice bowl, two-thirds empty, and watched Ulquiorra for a second. By then he had spaced off, that was what it looked like, and wasn't paying attention to much of anything.

"Hey, Ulquiorra," Ichigo said as he set his bowl down.

"What is it?" the arrancar replied with his gaze still focused on the opposite side of the room.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Depends on what it is."

"Then tell me this, do you know anything about those black doors? I mean, what's in the room behind them?"

"You felt it yourself didn't you? It's presence."

"Well, yeah, of course I did."

Ulquiorra looked at Ichigo as serious as ever.

"How much did Aizen-sama tell you about it?"

"Nothing. All he did was tell me to stay away from that area and to ignore the...screams."

"Then you should do as he told you."

"At least tell me," Ichigo said, "at least tell me what's over there."

Ulquiorra was quiet for a while then he stated simply,

"Nightmares."

"What?"

"I'm done talking about it. I've already said too much."

There was a long pause before the shinigami boy decided to speak again.

"Hey."

"Hm?"

"I just want to say my meal was really good."

Ichigo was slouching over on the couch with his arms resting down on his lap. Ulquiorra looked at him from the distance between them before gazing off to some other part of the room. A knock from the other side of the door was what broke the silence.

Ichigo looked up, as did Ulquiorra, to the doorway where a white figure soon entered in.

"Mornin', Ichigo," Gin greeted with his foxy grin spread across his face.

The young shinigami's face cringed when the man spoke to him. He really couldn't help it. The guy was freakin' creepy.

"Ichimaru," Ulquiorra said stepping into the center of the room.

"Oh, Ulquiorra, I didn't see you there."

"What did you need?"

"I just came to take Kurosaki off your hands for a while. He'll be comin' with me."

"If that's what you say then go ahead."

"Wait a second!" Ichigo got to his feet. "I'm not going anywhere with that guy."

"Oh, that wasn't nice," Gin said.

Ichigo crossed his arms. "I'll just say it outright. I don't like you." The boy emphasized the last sentence with a pause after each word.

Gin only smiled. "Too bad. I thought we'd be friends, Ichigo."

"Psh."

"I'm leaving." Ulquiorra said and did as he said.

"Come with me, Ichigo. I'll show ya to the baths."

Ichigo didn't want to go, but at the moment a bath sounded really good. He followed Gin out to the halls and walked behind him in a steady rhythm.

"You smashed up Ilforte's face really good didn't ya?" Gin asked after a while.

"Why? What happened to him?"

"Nothin'. He's just been fussin' about his face being filled with so many little cuts."

"God, that guy's just like Yumichika."

"Maybe." Gin chuckled.

- - -

Gin dropped Ichigo off in a good-sized room with a circular bath that covered 80 of the floor in the space. The man pointed out the changing room that was in the corner and without another word, left the boy alone. Ichigo got into the changing room which he figured could fit five people at least with the space that was there. A floating platform attached to the wall was filled with towels and soap. The boy helped himself to them and set them down on a bench.

Just in case, the shinigami looked around the room for anyone else who could be in there.

"All right," he sighed and slipped his robes off his body and threw them down on the bench.

He tied a towel around his hips, grabbed a bar of soap, and made his way into the bath area. He sat at the edge of the bath and dipped his feet in the surprisingly warm water. There must be a heat source somewhere under it, he thought. The boy waited another minute then he slipped the towel off and jumped into the water.

"Ah!" he came back up to the surface with a breath for air.

He sat in the water for a while, relaxing in the heat that surrounded his naked body. _This feels really good. _The shinigami held his breath and slipped down under the water, swimming toward the side of the bath. He came up from below and grabbed the soap that was sitting next to his towel. Drenching it with water, he rubbed the bar against his skin creating a lather which he rinsed off later. He began with the upper part of his body and slowly made his way down, scrubbing dirt and whatever else that built up off of himself. The boy was down to cleaning his lower torso by the time another figure had entered into the bath area. He came in quietly. Ichigo had been too busy with himself to have noticed him come in. The man's voice startled him when he spoke,

"Enjoying the bath?"

Ichigo stopped right then and turned around to see the man who had slipped in. He jumped back and splashed as he did so, letting out a cuss word that was barely audible.

"What the hell? Everywhere I turn, there you are!" Ichigo said.

"I'm sorry I scared you, Ichigo," Aizen replied. "I just came down to bring you something."

"Yeah, like what?"

Aizen pulled a bottle out and set it down next to the edge of the bath. Ichigo stared at it.

"Shampoo?"

"Were you expecting something else?"

"No, it's just...weird."

Ichigo looked up, realizing Aizen was staring at him now. He dropped below the water to the point where only his head was above it.

"Stop staring. I don't like it."

Aizen smiled. "It's hard not to when something so beautiful captures your vision."

Ichigo's face turned bright red and a look of surprise filled it. He didn't speak, then quickly he turned away from the man, his cheeks still blushing a strong red.

"Are you embarrassed, Ichigo, that I was watching you?"

_He was watching me the whole time. The whole time!_

Ichigo remembered taking off his clothes in the changing room and slipping off the towel before he hopped in the bath. If that was true, Aizen had seen him in full nudity twice since he got here. The boy dunked under the water again and screamed as loud as possible into the liquid surrounding him. He came back up a few seconds later, feeling a little more calm now than before.

"So I'm deprived of my privacy here aren't I?" he asked as he faced Aizen again.

"Ichigo."

The boy sighed and grabbed the shampoo.

"Thanks for this anyway."

Ichigo poured some of the bottle's contents out on his hand and put the shampoo back where it was. He rubbed his hands together and scrubbed it on his scalp, through his spiky orange hair. Aizen watched him for a while and commented saying,

"Your hair is really unique, Ichigo. I find it goes good with you."

"Most people don't say things like that to me. Back home, a lot of people would pick fights with me just for the fact that my hair was a strange color."

Ichigo slipped under the water again to rinse out his hair. He came up and made his way over to the side of the bath near where Aizen stood. Sticking his hand out, he reached for his towel, but soon realized it was no longer there. Aizen squatted down in front of him and held out the cloth within his eyesight.

"Here," he said and the boy grabbed it out of his hands. "I'll leave you be for now."

Aizen turned his back to him and slowly paced himself across the floor to the exit. Ichigo climbed out of the bath and quickly tied his towel around his hips again.

"Wait, Aizen!" he called half-running to him.

The man turned around just as Ichigo was a few steps away from him. Right at that moment, the shinigami slipped from his wet feet before he could reach him. Instinctively, Aizen reached out and grabbed the boy around his chest before he hit the floor.

"I'm fine," Ichigo said and stood back up. "It's just, I need someone to take me back to my room."

"Yes, of course." Aizen replied.

"Don't move. I mean it."

Ichigo left for the changing room. Inside, he looked around the bench where he left his clothes before. There in the same spot, he realized his black robes had now been switched for a set of white garments similar to what Aizen wore.

"What?" he said loud enough for the other man to hear. "Where are my clothes?"

"Ichigo, those are your clothes."

"No, they're not. I'm not wearing them."

"That's fine, but you might get a little chilly without any clothes covering your body."

Aizen could barely make out the sound of mumbling from inside the changing room. He stood still, patiently waiting for his love to come out wearing whatever he decided to choose. The former 5th Division Captain didn't have to wait long. Ichigo stepped out of the room wearing the white uniform with black trim and a red sash, he had his arms folded over his chest.

"It looks really good on you, Ichigo. Don't look so angry."

The boy walked over to him, putting his arms down on his sides. He stood next to Aizen and said,

"Let's go."

Aizen nodded and opened the door, leading the way out. As they walked through the corridors again, the man realized something about Ichigo.

He was walking next to him without him having to even ask.

It was just a small, baby step, but he felt that Ichigo was now beginning to trust him. A good start, Aizen believed so, to a wonderful morning.

---

I'm beat, this has been a long weekend. I feel so bad, I have nothing to say about such an awesome chapter. Ah, you guy'll forgive me I hope.


	8. The One We Lost

**Title: **The Strongest Color

**Chapter Eight: **The One We Lost

**Pairing/Characters: **Aizen/Ichigo, Kenpachi, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Yachiru, Orihime, Rukia

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

---

"Ikkaku! Yumichika! Get your asses over here now!"

The authoritative voice of Captain Zaraki rang out loud and clear amongst the commotion in the streets of Karakura. Some of the townsfolk that happened to pass by at that moment turned their heads to look at him. Kenpachi was in his gigai, of course, and adorned himself in black articles of clothing. His lieutenant, Yachiru, was on his shoulder with a wide grin across her cute face. The two made a very strange pair in the citizens' eyes and they stared a little longer before moving onto their own business.

Ikkaku and Yumichika dashed down the sidewalk against the flow of traffic. Dodging people here and there, they reached their superior officers quick enough. Ikkaku was interested now as to why they had come down to the real world and asked,

"What's going on, Captain?"

Kenpachi sighed and itched the back of his neck, an action he only made when he was either annoyed or bored.

"The Commander called for a Captain's Meeting yesterday. Nobody really had any idea what it was about since it was so sudden. But once he then explained it to the Captains most of them looked a little uneasy and nobody really said much."

He paused for a second as he looked out amongst the crowd of people across the street.

Continuing on, he said, "First thing I said was that I could lead the 11th Division into Hueco Mundo. Commander didn't sound to thrilled about taking any actions against them at this point. He said he doesn't want to start anything without having some information first."

"What?" Ikkaku almost yelled. "He expects us to do nothing? What about Ichigo? God knows what-"

"It's okay, Ikkaku."

"Captain," Yumichika said softly.

"I'm not worried about Ichigo, not one bit. He'd be the last person I'd expect to let Aizen and those arrancar have their way with him. It's not his well-being that is bothering me. It's that traitor Aizen."

"Is it because we don't have a motive?" Ikkaku asked.

"Aizen's got a motive that I'm sure of. Then again, he could have just kidnaped Ichigo for the sole purpose of pissing Soul Society off or because he has the power to do so. Either way, I don't like the idea of standing back and letting him do whatever the hell he wants."

"Even so, it's not like we _can _do anything. Aizen's building an army, and a strong one at that. Right now, the hougyoku is in his possession. It'll only be a matter of time before-"

"Don't give me that kind of shit, Ikkaku." Captain Zaraki interrupted.

"Sorry, Captain." Ikkaku closed his eyes for a moment.

"Don't start telling me we can't do it. If we keep on telling ourselves what is impossible then eventually we will believe it. The only thing, the only person who puts any limits on your abilities is yourself. If you tell yourself time after time that you can't then won't ever accomplish it. Just because Aizen supposedly has the stronger force, you think Soul Society doesn't stand a chance. There is some truth that power sometimes doesn't mean a damn thing when it comes down to it. I learned that the hard way from my fight with Ichigo. He cut me because he told himself he could. If it's fear that's telling you this, then throw it away."

"Ken-can," Yachiru said with a smile of approval.

Ikkaku smirked. "Thanks, Captain."

"Tsk, I shouldn't even have to say that to you guys." Kenpachi turned the other way.

"Let's go, Ikkaku, Yumichika. I came down here for an investigation of the alley where Ichigo engaged the arrancar in combat."

"Ken-chan doesn't know the way," Yachiru said. "He gets lost."

Kenpachi frowned and crossed his arms, not denying that fact.

"Of course, Captain!" Yumichika said, now cheerful.

Ikkaku smiled. "We'll lead the way."

The two walked past Kenpachi and Yachiru and began ahead of them. Taking the same path they did yesterday, they followed the sidewalk the entire way there. The alley was in the same condition as when they left it, which was both a relief and a disappointment.

- - -

"Kuchiki-san," a soft voice, Orihime, addressed the black-haired shinigami.

"Orihime," Rukia replied with a look of concern. "You don't look so good. Is everything all right?"

The two girls were outside the Kurosaki Clinic out in the midst of a beautiful, sunny afternoon. Rukia had just left the house a second ago and immediately ran into Orihime, who had walked down to Ichigo's home from her own. Rukia advanced toward the human girl and noticed even more the tired eyes of the teenager.

"I'm sorry," Orihime began. "It's just..."

"Yesterday was a hard day for all of us, Orihime. It's okay."

Orihime nodded her head slightly as a response. There was a short period of silence before the girl spoke again.

"Rukia," she looked straight at the female shinigami. "What will we do?"

Rukia moved her gaze up toward the sky.

"We'll wait," she said. "I don't think we should jump into anything just yet."

Orihime blinked and followed the girl's action of staring up at the deep blue sky. The wind gently blew against them, brushing the hair away from their faces. It was comforting in a way. The weather was so very nice today.

The orange-haired girl finally asked,

"Are we going to tell Uryuu about what happened?"

Rukia looked down now and let out a breath of air.

"I guess it wouldn't be the wrong thing to do. But the thing is, he's been training with his dad for a while and where we don't really know."

"Yeah," Orihime sighed. "He hasn't been in school for a while."

"It was a nice thought though, Orihime."

The human girl nodded.

"Orihime."

"Yeah?"

"Go home and get some sleep. You got to take care of yourself. What would Ichigo say if he saw you like this?"

Rukia placed her hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Will you do that for me?"

"Yes," Orihime replied. "Thank you, Rukia."

The shinigami managed a smile then set her loose. She turned away from her and walked back the way she came. Rukia's smile faded then and she looked off into the horizon.

"Ichigo..."

She knew that her herself missed the substitute shinigami just as much as Orihime.

- - -

"Dun da ta dun!" Ikkaku made this noise when the group of four reached the alley.

"We're here," Yumichika said, making it seem much less dramatic than his partner had.

Kenpachi stood behind the two out on the sidewalk and looked into the area they were directly in front of. There was nothing out of the ordinary, which was to be expected. The arrancar wouldn't leave anything noticeable behind him, not on purpose.

"Let's just hope he screwed up and left us something," Kenpachi said and stepped into the alley.

He didn't feel anything going in. The air was calm and very much ordinary. Ikkaku and Yumichika walked in as well and looked around, this time a little deeper than the first time they came here.

"So where was he when you found his body?" Kenpachi looked at them.

"He was lying right here." Ikkaku said and stepped down on the area he was talking about. "His soul was long gone by the time we got to him."

"Hm," the 11th Division Captain looked around the alley. "And you said you couldn't sense anything until after Ichigo had left, right?"

"Yes," Ikkaku confirmed.

"It's strange, isn't it?" Yumichika said with one index finger over his chin. "The arrancar must have used something to hide his and Ichigo's spiritual pressure while they were fighting."

Yachiru hopped off of Kenpachi's back and joined the crew in inspecting the area. She placed her small hand on the bricks of the wall and looked at it for a time. Her father figure's attention fell down on her and he asked,

"Did you find something, Yachiru?"

"The arrancar was standing right here, Ken-chan."

"How do you figure?" Ikkaku asked, turning to her.

"Remnants of his spirit pressure," Yumichika said simply. "There's got to be plenty of it around here."

The four Squad 11 members looked around them and stepped around the alley. Once in a while they would pause, feeling some spirit energy for a second. Yumichika looked once at Kenpachi, who seemed to just be wandering around and stopping in really random areas.

"Captain, is something wrong?" he asked.

Kenpachi growled in frustration.

"Ken-chan can't feel the spirit energy," Yachiru answered for him.

"Oh, that's right," Yumichika said.

"Shut your goddamn mouth," his Captain told him, glancing in his direction.

Kenpachi was never really proud of the fact that he couldn't feel spiritual pressure as well as most shinigami.

"Captain, could you go stand outside the alley for a second," Ikkaku said.

"Why?" Kenpachi frowned.

"I think I've got an idea."

"Fine, fine." The man made his way out on the sidewalk and stopped. "Now what?"

"Yumichika, stand right at the entrance to the alley."

The shinigami did as he was told by Ikkaku.

"What's going on in your head?" Kenpachi asked.

"Yumichika, do you feel anything where you are?"

"It's faint, very faint," Yumichika said, "but I can feel something that I would consider to be like the stone that makes up the walls surrounding Seireitei."

"Something that would block out spirit energy in other words," Ikkaku said.

"That would explain why no change in spiritual pressure was noted," Yumichika stated.

"So let's say Kenpachi was just a regular human passing by. That barrier would certainly prevent him from noticing anything coming from the alley."

"The arrancar didn't want any witnesses," Kenpachi said.

"Exactly," Ikkaku called. "You wouldn't want any witnesses to a crime you are about to commit. In this case, it'd be a kidnaping."

"Makes sense I guess."

"Poor Ichi," Yachiru sighed.

"Would that be sufficient enough evidence for the Commander?" Ikkaku asked.

"It's anyone's guess," Kenpachi came back into the alley alongside Yumichika.

He looked at his soldiers for a few seconds then said,

"I want you guys to stay in the real world for a while. Check up on things, but for the most part watch for any arrancar that come in. They might give us something nice."

"Yes, Captain," the two said in unison.

"I'll see what I can do in the meantime. Yachiru!"

The 11th Division Lieutenant approached him.

"I think we're done here...for now."

He looked back at his 3rd and 5th seat members.

"If you two don't want to get involved any further, I won't hold it against you."

"No," Ikkaku said. "Captain, we'll always be behind you, no matter what."

Yumichika nodded. Kenpachi smirked.

"If that's how it is," he turned halfway away from them, "then I'll count on your help when the time comes."

"Of course," Ikkaku said with a serious face. "We have your back covered. Just pay attention to what's in front of you."

Kenpachi turned away and smiled. Walking away with Yachiru next to him, the two men watched them until they were out of sight. They were always behind him to watch his back. Kenpachi Zaraki is their Captain, but more than that he was a fellow soldier. Just being able to fight under such a great man was truly the greatest honor the two believed would ever be given to them.

To hell and back, it didn't matter. If the battlefield called them to Hueco Mundo, there they would be alongside him. More than anything, they all wanted nothing more than to regain what was taken from them. _To get back the one we lost._

"When Soul Society's own 11th Division takes the field against those sons of bitches," Ikkaku said out loud, "they'll get paid back so bad they will think twice the next time they decide to go after Ichigo."

- - -

For the next couple of days, there was absolutely no strange activity within Karakura Town. Ikkaku and Yumichika walked around town as usual, but this time paying close attention to any nearby spirit pressure. They found nothing and returned home with nothing new, feeling disappointed and useless.

"They'll come," Ikkaku said one night before going to bed. "They'll come out one of these days."

It was another unfruitful night when the two decided to settle into bed. The clock read 11:13 P.M. Ikkaku sat up from his bed after five minutes of lying down. Yumichika rolled over and looked at him from across the room.

"What's going on, Ikkaku?"

"Nothing. I can't sleep." He stood up. "I want to go take a walk."

"Ikkaku, please."

"It'll just be around the block."

Yumichika sighed, letting the man go off and take his stupid walk.

Ikkaku was outside on the sidewalk of the empty town. The air was cool and there was a slight breeze in the air. It felt good just to stand out for a while. He turned one way and began pacing down the cement road, past the homes and buildings lined up down the street.

It had been at least twenty minutes since Ikkaku left for his midnight walk when he was starting to wonder if he should just give it up and go back home. He stopped and looked ahead, seeing nothing but darkness and illuminated buildings. Turning on his heel, he went back the way he came with his hands buried in his pockets.

He got halfway down the street to the apartment when he felt something, the thing he'd been waiting forever since the time in the alley. He located the spiritual pressure and sprinted as fast as he could go in his gigai toward this energy. He ran and ran for what felt like forever. It's this damn body he told himself.

A figure turned the corner in front of him and frantically looked about before spotting Ikkaku down the road. He looked wide-eyed in amazement, they both did, at who stood in front of them.

"Ikkaku!"

"Ichigo!"

Ikkaku at first couldn't believe his eyes, is this really Ichigo? He ran to him without much thought, so happy to see the boy alive. As he got closer, however, he soon noticed the change in Ichigo's appearance. His black shinigami robes were now swamped for the white ones of the arrancar and on his body he could pick out patches of some strange black substance. He stopped before he could reach the shinigami. Was this really Ichigo? If it is indeed Ichigo, then is he still their friend or an enemy? Ikkaku stood paralyzed. _What have they done to you?_

_---_

A thousand apologizes for getting this chapter up so very late, I feel really bad. This chapter forced me to plan all the days and events up to Chapter 13. This is a good thing for all of us because it will make writing the next chapters so much easier. In my opinion, I think the story really starts getting interesting from this point on. I love suspense and plot twists if you haven't already caught that, especially from this chapter ending. Go ahead and work your brains to try to figure out what happened.


	9. Define Fear

**Title: **The Strongest Color

**Chapter Nine: **Define Fear

**Pairing/Characters: **Aizen/Ichigo, Szayel Aporro, Stark, Hollow Ichigo

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

_"He who fears something gives it power over him." _(Moorish proverb)

---

It was at some ungodly hour of the night when Ichigo suddenly awoke. His body jerked and his eyes immediately shot open. The boy caught his breath and silently laid still on his back for a moment of time.

"It's okay," he told himself. "It was just one of those falling dreams."

Falling into a dark abyss once he had been chased to it by a beast he believed to be a hollow. He couldn't really remember it clearly, the image of his dream was already fading from his mind, but he was almost positive it was a hollow. The shinigami thought of the beastly image of the monster that followed him, the carnivorous teeth and strange markings that covered its body stood out from his memory the most. It was terrifying, that he could absolutely remember. The atmosphere felt foreboding, and the world that surrounded him was nothing but pitch darkness.

The vision of the dream soon faded almost completely from his mind only a few short minutes after Ichigo had awoken. He liked it better that way, just to forget it and go back to sleep. The substitute shinigami closed his eyes and rolled over on his side.

All there is to see in front of eyes pulled shut is darkness, the absence of color, black. The color of the unknown, and what creates or holds all fear. Such a image as this now filled the boy's head and he sank into it, sleep overtaking his body once more.

- - -

"Aizen-sama," a voice that belonged to the 8th Espada, Szayel Aporro, called for the man's attention.

Aizen gave it to him, slowly turning to face the pink-haired arrancar. Then he asked,

"Szayel Aporro, what is it?"

Szayel Aporro stood firm with his arms hanging down by his sides. He replied,

"Just this morning when out on my rounds..." the rest of his sentence was lost as his voice trailed off.

He stopped and looked up at his master.

"It's taken another one."

Aizen wasn't alarmed at the news. "When was this?"

"By my calculations, I'd say it was around three. I'll have to analyze the body before I know any more of the details."

"I understand." He looked deeper at the arrancar. "You aren't sad, Szayel Aporro? He was your brother."

Szayel Aporro frowned. "The boy didn't even last two days in there. I won't waste my pity on him. He was weak. And dying the way he did in there just shows how pathetic he really was."

Aizen looked at him silently, not going to deny or accept what he just told him was the truth. Instead, he certainly stated,

"Ilforte was the tenth." Szayel Aporro nodded.

Sousuke sighed and took a couple steps to his right, his arms resting on his lower back. He asked, "Is there anything else?"

"No, I have nothing more to report."

"That's fine," the former 5th Squad Captain said, signaling to the Espada that he may leave.

Szayel Aporro was halfway to the exit when Aizen called his name. The arrancar stopped and turned around to face him.

"Yes?"

"I would like to see your report, Szayel Aporro, when you are finished analyzing his body."

"Of course, Aizen-sama. It will be sent immediately."

Szayel Aporro bowed before him then spun around to quickly leave the room. Once he was long gone, Aizen turned his face to the empty doorway and stood in silence for some time. Thoughts began to fill his mind. He was somewhat curious as to who would be next, who would take the number eleven. It was a strong number, he wondered if the next victim would be able to bear such a number on their name.

Aizen smirked. _Looks like I'll be looking for an eleven as well, with Ilforte dead. _He turned away, moving down to the back of the room. _Let's see how everything plays out from here._

- - -

Ichigo had tried a second time this morning to get some information out of Ulquiorra. He didn't get much. Every question he had asked him was either ignored or vaguely answered. Eventually, the shinigami had given up on his attempts to gain further knowledge of Hueco Mundo and Los Noches.

Instead, he preoccupied himself for a while in order to keep his mind away from the subject for a while. The time he had alone in between the breakfast and lunch periods he spent doing some stretching and exercises. To keep his mind focused, he counted out loud his number of accomplished movements and concentrated fully on his body. It seemed to have worked because for that short period of time he didn't recall anything that had happened in the last four days since he was captured. His mind was completely fixed on the movements of his body and nothing else.

Ichigo's activities were halted around dinnertime. The old routine of meals had become annoying to him. Most of the time the boy wasn't in the mood to shove anything into his mouth. For whatever reason, he still ate the food he was given.

"I should just stop then," he said to himself. "Just to piss them off."

The shinigami was nothing but a lion in a zoo. He was locked in a room, routinely food was given to him, and his danger was reduced to nearly nothing when he was here. How that all happened to him was just so damn pathetic. They took him from his home and caged him up like an animal. It's no wonder that has him pissed him off.

Ichigo thought of Aizen. He was the one who did this to him, and made him his little pet. He thought of the way he looked at him, how he spoke to him, and how he ordered him. The shinigami clenched his fist and whispered silently,

"Not anymore."

The boy was, at the time, sitting on the floor with his back against the wall. He looked down at his hand, tightly rolled into a fist, and let it rest against his leg. Leaning forward off the wall, Ichigo sighed softly as if he was preparing for a long distance sprint. He glanced up toward the couch on his left and to the arrancar lying on it. All Ichigo knew about this Espada was that his name is Stark (he introduced himself as he came in), and that he was a bored-looking man who looked like he needed some rest. He had asked Ichigo when he first entered the space if he could rest on the sofa for a while.

"I don't care," Ichigo had replied without a look at him.

Stark spread out on the couch and fell asleep not even within five minutes. The shinigami representative didn't care to notice it however. He moved himself to sit on the ground at the north end of the room, under the window, to eat his lunch without any interruptions.

Now, he pushed his body off the floor and got up to his feet. Slowly, he walked down to the couch where Stark continued to catch some Z's and waited for a reaction from him. He didn't see any. The boy snapped his fingers and he still got nothing.

"He's out cold," Ichigo thought, now certain. He had doubted that any of the arrancar would drop their guard around him.

"Either he is incredibly stupid or he's underestimating me," he thought as he looked down at the Espada.

Ichigo frowned and bent down next to Stark. He knew the door had one lock, located on the outside of the door. The purpose of that was to be certain no one from the inside could unlock the door and escape from the room, or just the opposite, lock themselves inside and prevent any outsiders from coming in. It was built for the room to house any prisoners. Of course, Ichigo didn't expect anything less.

Even so, there's got to be a trick of some sort that would allow any visitors within the room to get out without having to rely on help from the outside. But then again you never know, the arrancar probably do get locked in here with him. Ichigo really hoped that wasn't the truth. Either way, he had to find out.

Gently, Ichigo picked through Stark's pockets and folds of his clothes, making sure to be extra careful not to wake him. He searched, but came up with nothing. The man wasn't carrying anything with him.

"Dammit," Ichigo swore under his breath. _Are you kidding me?_

He stood up with his eyes still fixed on the sleeping arrancar before him. Looking deeper now, he noticed that the Espada looked like he was in a really deep sleep. It was almost like a coma, the way it looked. Ichigo knew he was alive, right at the moment he was watching his chest rise and fall as he took breaths. Then again, this state could be normal for an arrancar. He's never seen one sleep before.

Ichigo ignored him, it's not like he cared any for these people. Instead he walked over to the door halfway across the room. Even though he didn't have a clue about how to open the locked door, he still approached it. He scanned the white stone carefully, looking for anything that might be out of place. Whether it is a crack, an indent, or whatever, he looked for one. But there was nothing, well nothing he could find anyway.

"Screw it," he said and rammed his shoulder at the door. He had expected it wouldn't budge, knowing it was locked, but something must have happened.

Ichigo stumbled into the hall just before falling down on the same shoulder he had bashed against the door. He winced, feeling the pain in his arm as he landed on the floor. It wasn't broken, thankfully, since he didn't want to have to put up with a broken arm on top of everything else he's been having problems with here. The boy stood up and stared at the door which was wide open. He was absolutely positive. The arrancar servant had locked it when he left. If that's the case, someone must have come by and unlocked it. But who would do such a thing? Did he have an ally amongst the arrancar? Or is there a betrayer within these walls?

Ichigo didn't want to waste time thinking about it any longer. He looked around the area, down the left hall and down the hall on his right. There wasn't anybody to be accounted for.

So he ran, he ran as fast as he could down those halls. He didn't know where he was going, and not once did he look back. All he did was concentrate on running and wherever these corridors took him. If this is the third time he ends up at the dead end with the black doors ahead of him, then that would be his fate. Maybe he was supposed to go there, maybe there he could find some answers, or maybe that place would just be his downfall. He didn't want to be a caged pet anymore, so he was willing to take this risk.

- - -

Black, the color of mystery, of death, and of the unknown. This was the color of those doors, contrasted against the white walls and floors. It was supposed to be noticed. It was a warning of danger.

"_It's dangerous, just keep away from this area."_

He remembered, that was what Aizen had told him. That was the only thing he dared to tell him.

"_At least tell me what's over there."_

"_Nightmares."_

Ulquiorra described it as such. Is what's beyond those doors really that terrible?

"_Don't play dumb with me, Ulquiorra! When you came, I could feel a force behind it. It felt like a goddamn monster or something!"_

Why is he being brought there? Why is it that nobody wants to talk about it like it's a taboo?

Don't rely on others to give you answers, find them out yourself.

At the end of the tunnel, he stood before them. Ichigo's hand gripped the door handle. He stared at the black stone only inches away from his body and took a deep breath. _Go forward._

He twisted the handle that was as black as the doors, and pushed open the door. Slowly and cautiously, the boy stood a step in, then another, and another. When the door shut behind him, he knew at that time there was no turning back.

- - -

The space around him was the purest, darkest black. Nothing could be seen within the room he had entered. Ichigo put his hand up to his face. He could not see it. The hand he held up began to shake then, and fear fell over him like a blanket. He felt someone breathing on the back of his neck and he whipped around, slashing the air with his right arm. There was nobody behind him. Ichigo turned around and ran, his entire body now began to tremble with fear. As he ran helplessly, a voice laughed. It didn't sound as if it was in the room, but it was within his mind. He recognized it as the same voice that spoke to him when he was with Aizen the second time he came to the doors. It laughed at him.

"Shut the hell up!" Ichigo screamed, even though it did no good.

"_Humans are such fragile, pathetic creatures." _The voice said. _"You truly believe you are death?" _It laughed even harder now.

Ichigo frowned and his feet slow down to a stop. He saw a figure standing before him, someone he knew really well. Never would he think to see _him_ in a place like this.

"Hey, aibou," the white version of himself smiled.

Sweat trickled down the side of Ichigo's face. This was not what he was ready for.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Why are you scared of me, Ichigo?"

The shinigami boy clenched his teeth and took a step back.

"Nightmares."

The hollow Ichigo smiled. "You scared of losing control? Are you scared of me, Ichigo?!"

Ichigo swallowed, another sweat drop dripped off his face.

"_Can you look death in the face, shinigami?!" _The voice laughed inside his mind.

"_Now show me," _it said to Ichigo, _"show me how you can handle fighting your greatest fear!"_

_---_

Happy Birthday to you, Aizen-sama! Sorry I couldn't write you in a longer scene. Really! I wanted to write a lot more for this chapter, but it just didn't work out. Argh! (Just in case if you were wondering, the voice in Ichigo's head and Hichigo are not the same person.) I've got some good fear quotes to go with these next couple chapters too!


	10. Strength to Stand

**Title: **The Strongest Color

**Chapter Ten: **Strength to Stand

**Pairing/Characters: **Aizen/Ichigo, Hollow Ichigo, Stark, Tousen

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

"_You might bend till you break. Cause it's all you can take. ... You get mad you get strong. Wipe your hands shake it off. Then you stand." _(_Stand _by Rascal Flatts)

---

Ichigo clenched his fist tightly, hard enough to leave indents on his palm from his fingernails. He had to stop shaking; he had to stop showing his weakness.

"Dammit Ichigo," he said inside his thoughts, "get a hold of yourself."

The shinigami representative focused his gaze on the hollow Ichigo currently standing amidst the pitch darkness. This had filled the room with mystery. He noticed now that there was a stench of dried blood and rotten corpses mingling in the air. Judging by that, this place had to be either a battleground or a slaughterhouse, and for his own sake he hoped it wasn't the latter. Ichigo felt it without thinking. Death was so evident in the atmosphere. He wondered how many helpless people lost their lives in such hellish place, and he prayed that he wouldn't be sharing the same fate.

"What's wrong, Ichigo?" his hollow side asked in a mocking tone. "You look extremely pale."

"Probably," Ichigo replied, "I haven't gotten any sunlight in the last four days."

The white Ichigo frowned. Despite Ichigo's brave attitude, he could see clearly the fear growing in his eyes. He is only strong on the surface, hiding his weakness inside of him, beneath his skin. He doesn't want to show his fear to anyone, and he'll put on a brave face in front of both his dear friends and his worst enemies.

"I know every little thing about you," Hollow Ichigo stated in his own thoughts. "Your strengths and weaknesses are common knowledge to me."

He stared at the substitute shinigami and spoke out loud,

"I'm gonna destroy you, Ichigo. And the moment I do, you will realize the truth about how pathetic and worthless you really are."

"I wouldn't count on that," Ichigo said with a smirk. "There's no way I'll be defeated by someone like you."

"Is that how it is with you?" the hollow laughed. "You are so ignorant."

Hollow Ichigo lifted his right hand away from his body, up in the air. He grinned in satisfaction before calling out the name of Ichigo's own zanpakuto.

"Zangetsu!!"

The cleaver-like soul slayer appeared in his hand, a white blade with black bandages covering the hilt, the very opposite of what Ichigo's Zangetsu looked like. He gripped it tightly and slashed the air in front of him, letting the blade drop next to his leg afterward. Ichigo's eyes at that moment looked in awe and horror at the image before him.

"What the hell?" Ichigo was paralyzed where he stood. "How can you call on Zangetsu?"

"I'm better than you," his hollow stated as if it were common sense. "I hold the power over you because you fear me, and that is why I am the only one who can hold this blade out of the two of us. You might as well accept that as a fact."

"That's enough," Ichigo's expression grew serious as he spoke. "Let's do this."

"My pleasure," the white Ichigo grinned. With a great leap in the air followed by a vertical slice down on toward the shinigami's body, he began the battle.

- - -

Stark's body jerked and his eyes immediately shot open without any thought about it. The first thing that came into view was the pale white of the room's ceiling and then he realized where he was. He sighed with relief.

"Such a bad interruption to a nice nap," he said, still a little drowsy.

The Espada sat up on the couch and looked over at the north wall where he last saw the boy before dozing off. He wasn't sitting there anymore.

"Hey, shinigami," he called while his eyes scanned the room. "Where did you-"

He stopped before finishing his sentence when his eyes fell on the open door to his left.

Stark sighed and put two of his fingers on his forehead. "Ran off again, did you? This isn't going to be good."

He heard a gasp coming from the doorway and lifted his head up to see the servant that accompanied him here when he first came in. The bored looking arrancar dropped his fingers from his face and looked at the underling standing a few feet away.

"S-Stark, what happened to him?" the servant looked in fear.

"The boy took off again it seems," Stark stood up and sighed. "It's probably my fault. I didn't think he'd do anything rash while I was here. It was just a short nap, when I awoke he was gone."

"No, I can't handle this anymore. If Aizen-sama finds out that I allowed the shinigami to escape a second time there won't be any second thoughts about it. He'll kill me!"

"Calm yourself," Stark ordered. "He couldn't have gotten far. I can call together a few of my arrancar and we can find him before Aizen even notices."

"You...you'd do that?"

The Espada sighed once again. "What a pain."

"Is there something wrong, Stark?"

Both of the arrancar's gazes fell on the man who stood just a foot out of the doorway. Stark wasn't surprised as much as the lower arrancar was when they saw Kaname Tousen there before them.

"Ichigo Kurosaki escaped again, is that so?" the ex 9th Division Captain asked.

"Unfortunately, that is the case," Stark replied with a calm voice. He looked at the servant, who was now trembling before Aizen's accomplice. The Espada stated, "I take the blame for the situation here. It was my fault that Aizen's prize got away."

"Very well," Tousen said. He dropped his gaze to the lowly servant before him, still scared of the man's presence. "Leave now, and I'll forget that you had anything to do with this."

"Y-yes sir!" the servant ran off without another word.

Kaname looked at Stark without any emotion on his face.

"Since you are to blame for this, I want to go report this to Aizen-sama at once."

"Yes, Tousen, but what about the child?"

"I will look for him." Tousen turned away from the arrancar. "It won't be a problem."

"I'll leave it to you then," Stark replied.

The former captain made his way off somewhere down the hall which left Stark all to himself in Ichigo's room. He put his hand on front of his mouth and let out a yawn, still feeling tired even after his nap. Slowly, he stepped out of the room and walked down the opposite way from where Tousen had traveled down. As he walked, he began to think about the room more and more. When he did, it was just a gut feeling, but it felt like something wasn't right about how everything happened. The boy couldn't have left the room without a little help. Both of them were locked in that room, and there's no way he couldn't have gotten out. Unless...

There was a certain someone in Las Noches who would do such a thing as go and unlock the boy's door. But who among them would do something like that? Stark scratched his head.

_Ah, what the hell am I talking about. Maybe I should take another nap once this is through._

_- - -_

The blade of the anti-Zangetsu just grazed along Ichigo's skin, tearing a hole in his clothing that covered the area where his left kidney is. He was lucky to dodge that at such a close range, especially when the sword was to be stabbed straight through his lower abs. If had been at least forty-five minutes since the battle between the two had begun, that was a long time when all the fifteen-year-old had been doing was evading his enemy's attacks. Even so, Ichigo wasn't lucky enough to dodge every blow that was aimed at him. He had two open, bleeding wounds, one on his right arm and the other on his left leg, both located close to his torso. The hollow Ichigo had decided at one point in the battle that he would try cutting off the boy's limbs to limit his movements, leaving him nowhere to run. These cuts were deep and the crimson blood dripped steadily down his white uniform. He didn't know how long he could last without treating them.

The shinigami rubbed his cheek where a bruise was quickly becoming evident on his face from where his opponent had landed his fist, throwing him off his balance. There was also a handful of smaller bruises and cuts across his body, but like the one he just received, they weren't very painful.

Ichigo's breathing had become very heavy now and practically gasped for air. It wasn't only that, his vision was becoming blurry, but only for a few seconds at a time every so often. His stomach was in pain and he felt nauseous for being exposed to the constant smell of blood and dead bodies in such an extended period of time. The boy lasted this long and he had a strong stomach, but he wondered how long that would continue.

It was an unfair fight in Ichigo's eyes, which of course it was, since he wasn't given a weapon of any kind or even a means of defending against the white Ichigo's attacks. The damage he had taken up until now would have at least been cut in half if he had such a convenience. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. If this battle continued on the way it has been up until now, he was damn sure he'd die.

Ichigo made himself stand up tall, and stared down Hollow Ichigo from his location in the dark room. If anything, he wouldn't let himself die without a will to fight. He would stand strong until the time comes when he breathes his last. That was a promise.

"You like to fight dirty don't you, you bastard," Ichigo said to the hollow.

The white Ichigo rested his Zangetsu across the top of his shoulders and grinned.

"Oh, it could be a lot worse for you right now more than it already is."

He paused for a second, then said,

"Do you want to know why you can't fight back against me?"

"No," Ichigo said giving off a "like I really give a flying fuck about that" attitude.

The hollow Ichigo ignored that and said anyway,

"Your fear outweighs your fighting spirit. Simply stated, you're just too damn scared to fight me."

"What's that have to do with it?"

"That's the main reason why I can wield this zanpakuto you like to call Zangetsu and you cannot. That is really all there is to it."

"If you plan on gloating, just save it." Ichigo stated. "Let your sword do the talking. If you're better than me then prove it, don't just sit there and brag about it."

Hollow Ichigo let his zanpakuto drop to his side. "Very well, if you're so eager to die."

Ichigo clenched his teeth and planted his feet to the floor in preparation for his foe's attack. The shinigami's white counterpart dashed toward him, zanpakuto ready. The boy braced himself as he drew closer, and then suddenly, disappeared.

"What the hell?" Ichigo looked frantically.

The hollow's crazy laugh was heard clearly behind him and he whipped around immediately. His gaze fell on the blade of the white Zangetsu as it flew swiftly through the darkness directed by its owner.

"Shit," Ichigo swore, knowing he didn't have enough time to dodge this one.

The zanpakuto sliced open his abdomen in a horizontal line, ripping the skin and releasing the flow of the crimson fluid to stain yet another section of his white clothing. That was Ichigo's breaking point. He dropped down on his hands and knees and barfed right there on the floor. For a while he didn't move his body, trying to gather some strength just to stand. His vision was becoming a lot worse now, the blurriness fading in more often than usual. He had lost a substantial amount of blood since the fight started, and his consciousness was fading slowly.

Ichigo clenched his fist and somehow began to slowly lift his body up from the ground. He groaned in pain once he was able to lift his hands off the floor and he looked up at the white face that was peering down at him.

The hollow created a fake sympathetic expression on his face and said,

"Did I hit you too hard? You don't look so good, just throwing up what's left in your stomach. I'm surprised you still have one."

"Fuck you," Ichigo unsteadily got his body to stand up straight.

He covered his new wound with his right arm, a futile attempt to stop the blood flow. The crimson blood only dripped out onto his arm instead. The substitute shinigami could barely focus on the opponent he now faced. His vision was continually going in and out.

"You won't last another hit, Ichigo," the white version of the boy stated. "Look at you. It's such a challenge just for you to stand straight."

What he said was true. Ichigo's balance was really terrible now because of his blurry vision. His body wobbled and his legs began to shake. He could only hold himself for another ten seconds and by then he finally dropped down on his knees. The white Ichigo did the honors of smacking his head hard enough to knock the boy down on his face. Finally, he dropped his foot down hard on Ichigo's upper back and smiled as he heard the sweet sound of agony emitting from the boy's mouth. How long has it been since he's waited for this moment, to finally rid himself of this nuisance and stomp him down under his hooves.

"You're not my king," he said with hatred to the boy lying below his foot.

Ichigo didn't reply, neither did he move. He just lied there and grinded his teeth, trying to fight against the pain that wracked his body. The boy knew what would come next and he was prepared for it.

"This is the end."

A quick thrust of the blade into Ichigo's back caused the boy to cough up blood and he closed up his right hand into a fist. Another time the sword was stabbed into his back and the shinigami could still feel the pain surging through his body just as strong as before. A third time the blade fell on him, and Ichigo was now ready to pray for death to take him away quickly. All he could think about was the pain. The fourth stab to his back didn't kill him and the hollow Ichigo was preparing for a fifth blow immediately afterward. He saw the boy was in excruciating pain and it put a smile on his face just to see him in such a state.

The fifth stab landed down into Ichigo's back, and suddenly the pain began to melt away along with his consciousness. He closed his eyes and slowly waited for the time to come. When his mind had slipped away from the reality of the black room, there was a voice talking to him inside his head. At first it sounded a lot like his deceased mother's calm voice, but soon distorted into the mocking voice of the creature that ruled the room where his body had fallen.

It said,

"You can't die yet," the voice of Masaki told him. "You still have so much to live for."

"_Get up,"_ the deep, angry voice ordered. _"You call yourself death, a shinigami? Praying for your own death is a weakling's way out. So what if it hurts, at least your body is telling you that you are alive. You can't feel it now, can you? The pain, tell me can you feel it?"_

"No, I can't feel anything." Ichigo replied.

"_How about now?"_

Right at that second, Ichigo could feel the pain coming back to him. He wasn't done. He wasn't dead yet. But what the hell just happened?

"_You're body just experienced death for the first time. It happens to nearly everyone. They lose their fear. Tell me boy, do you fear death?"_

"No."

"_You didn't sound too certain."_

"Death, the end of life, it is nothing. Why should I be scared of it?" Ichigo yelled out, "What death is, I am also! I'm a shinigami!"

"_Now get up," _the voice said to him. _"Get on your feet and stand with wavering_. _Put your words to action."_

Ichigo's eyes flickered open and he lifted his head up from the floor. He could feel the pain; the blood flowing from his wounds. He was alive. His eyes fell on the white figure only a few inches from his body.

"Disappear!" Ichigo shouted at him. "I'm not scared OF YOU!!"

The substitute shinigami's spiritual pressure erupted in a blue flash around his body, knocking his hollow off guard. Hollow Ichigo took a step back and covered himself with his free arm that wasn't holding the white Zangetsu.

"Where did this power come from?" he said out loud. "How did he come back with all that energy?"

He looked down and saw the ferocity glowing in Ichigo's eyes. He had an intent to kill him, and there was nothing left in the boy to fear anything. Now the blood-covered Ichigo placed his hands out from his body and using his strength he pushed his body up inch by inch off the floor.

"Stand up," Ichigo said in his mind. "Get up and stand!"

He was on his knees now pulling the rest of his body up to be supported by his feet. With a deep breath, he stood tall and faced the enemy with determination.

"Sorry," he said. "Looks like I'm not going to be killed off so easily."

"Tck," the hollow Ichigo frowned. "Then I'll just have to try harder."

Ichigo took a step forward, then disappeared into thin air. He reappeared in front of his opponent with his hand gripping the white zanpakuto.

"What do you plan on doing? You can't take Zangetsu from me, didn't I tell you? I have power over you, I am stronger!"

Ichigo's grip tightened on the blade and it shattered beneath his fingers. The hollow looked at the sword in horror at what the boy had just done. The hole in the blade cracked outward across the entire area, rendering it useless to even use as weapon. Slowly, it crumbled all at once and fell down to the floor in pieces.

"What the hell did you do?" the white Ichigo was angry.

"Isn't it obvious?" Ichigo smirked. "I'm better than you." He spit the hollow's very words back at him.

The boy's hollow counterpart looked down at what was left of Zangetsu in his hand, the hilt, and he threw it off into the darkness.

"I don't believe you," he said.

"Then believe this!" Ichigo yelled and grabbed his foe's wrist.

He felt power suddenly rushing throughout his entire body and he put it all into twisting the hollow's wrist with his grip. The bones cracked under his hand, and the victim screamed for the first time as his hand was twisted around to the opposite side of his wrist. Ichigo let go of him, letting him fall to his knees and nurse his injured hand.

"Know your place, hollow." Ichigo said. "You won't ever have control over me, I'll make sure of that."

"This isn't over." The hollow Ichigo began to fade away into the darkness. "You haven't destroyed me yet!"

"Be quiet," the boy said when he had finally disappeared from his sight.

Ichigo winced and held a hand onto his abdomen where his largest wound was located. The pain was coming back to him with full force on all his wounds now. He lowered himself to his knees, and vomited for a second time. It felt a little bit better afterwards, even though the pain was nearly unbearable. He heard the voice talking to him again and he slowly stood up on his two feet.

"_How does it feel, death? How does it feel to be rid of your fear?"_

"Who are you?" Ichigo asked instead, not bothering to answer.

"_What, you haven't figured it out yet? I am everything, I am the darkness, but most of all I am that which you call fear."_

"Umm...okay," Ichigo seemed confused by his words.

"_But you realize now that you are not free from these bounds I have created on you to his room. You have overcome that which you fear the most at this point, but that is only a small step. You humans have a lot of things you are scared of._

"_Heal those wounds and rest. I'll call you out when the time comes for another round."_

"What a second, you're going to let me go off and get healed just so I can come back and get beat up again? No fucking way!"

"_That is what you have gotten yourself into, the only way you can escape is by dying."_

Ichigo frowned.

" _I suggest you get moving, you only have enough leftover stamina to last you another twenty minutes, a half hour if you're conservative."_

Ichigo turned around to where he thought the doorway was and saw a white light emitting from that end of the room. He ran down to the light without a second thought. Just being able to get out of this hell-hole was enough for now. He'll worry about all his other problems when they happen.

---

Gah! That was the longest and the most violent battle that I've ever written. Don't worry, the next chapter won't take as long to get up! Next chapter will have plenty of Aizen/Ichigo love. I've deprived you poor readers of it for a couple chapters.


	11. The Lone Survivor

**Title: **The Strongest Color

**Chapter Eleven: **The Lone Survivor

**Pairing/Characters: **Aizen/Ichigo, Stark, Tousen, Grimmjow

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

---

"I'm sorry, Stark, but could you repeat that again," Aizen requested with his attention on the Espada.

Stark repeated his last sentence word for word as he did before. "Ichigo Kurosaki left his designated room again, Aizen-sama."

The former 5th Division Captain looked as if in thought for a moment without saying anything, so Stark wasted no time in continuing.

"Aizen-sama, I'm the one to blame for this. If someone is going to be punished-"

"No," Aizen interrupted. "That will not be necessary at this time, Stark."

The Espada didn't speak. He slipped his hands into the pockets on either side of his white hakama and his eyes wandered to a corner of the room. Stark remembered the now deceased Ilforte's punishment for letting the boy get away. He was thrown into that messed up room, much of the arrancar have dubbed it "The Nightmare Room," and left for dead. Left for dead because **nobody **has ever survived that room, they all died days after entering. There were nine of them before Szayel Aporro's younger brother, all of them arrancar and all were sent there as punishment. Rumors floated around Las Noches about there being a way to get out of the place alive, but the person had to physically die for that to happen. Stark wasn't sure about the details, but it was just a rumor after all. Something the guys would get together and tell stories about to scare each other. He really didn't know what was fact anymore.

Aizen sighed softly. "I won't waste any more time. I must go search for him."

"But Aizen-sama," Stark argued, "you don't need to do this yourself. Call together the Espada and we'll look for him for you."

"That's a nice offer, but I must decline."

Stark stepped back, confused about Aizen's decision.

"Ichigo Kurosaki won't listen to any of the arrancar, and he especially won't let them escort him back to his room." Aizen looked at the Espada. "You see, Stark, this is something that only I can do."

Stark watched his master slowly pace down the room and he didn't say anything more. Aizen's orders were absolute, one must not question them.

"Stark," Aizen called his name, turning to face him.

"Yes, Aizen-sama?"

"If you are looking to redeem yourself for your actions, then I'll allow you to come along with me."

Stark was taken aback by the man's offer, but he accepted. He wasn't in the mood to do much of anything, but he figured he might as well do something to help the situation, especially if it would help Aizen out.

"This Ichigo," the arrancar began to say as they exited the room, "he's very reckless, isn't he?"

"Hm, I suppose he is," Aizen replied impassively.

Stark looked at the man for another five seconds, then stared down at the ground ahead of them. He couldn't help but wonder why Aizen would go out of his way to do such things for this substitute shinigami. The arrancar already knew that he had taken a liking to the boy, but what cased that? What kind of person is Ichigo to him? Stark was a little curious, but he didn't feel it was his place to be asking Aizen about such personal details.

He yawned. _What could that guy have planned on doing anyway?_

- - -

Ichigo pulled the door open with his left hand, using his right arm to cover the bloody wound on his abs. He took a step out and another, now within the safety of the white hallway and out of the black room. Suddenly, he could feel his stamina slowly decreasing just as he was told. When his body was in the darkness, it was probably under some sort of spell that would only last as long as he was inside the area. That was the best idea he had to explain it.

"Whatever, I've only got twenty minutes until I lose all my strength and pass out," Ichigo told himself. "At that point, there's no telling what will happen to me, so that's why...I have to keep my feet moving."

The substitute shinigami could only allow himself to walk. Running would only waste his precious energy too quickly. He looked behind him, noticing the drops of blood he left in a line down the hall. Hopefully, it would act as a trail for others to follow. God knows that he needs all the help he can get with his body in such a terrible state. The crimson blood dripped all over his white uniform, he could see that now. Ichigo was just glad that he couldn't see the wounds on his back.

The boy grinded his teeth to fight against the pain, which was worse than before with him moving around. He felt since he had no idea where he was going that maybe he should just lay back against the wall and wait for someone to come along. But there was something inside him telling him to keep his body moving, not to stop and wait on others. So he kept on going.

- - -

Tousen felt the boy's spirit energy out of nowhere a minute ago. It had been hidden from him ever since he began his search and he wasn't able to track him. Now he felt Ichigo's reitsu somewhere close by and he followed it like a dog would follow a scent. He would get to him before anyone else, and stop him before he could try to escape Las Noches or do anything stupid.

- - -

Ichigo heard one set of footsteps nearby where he was. They were coming closer to his location, and it sounded like this person was following behind him. The shinigami turned around, squinting to see if he could spot the person walking down the halls. A figure stood out in the white hallway, and was walking at a calm, steady pace.

Ichigo called out, "Hey, who's there?" But didn't get an answer.

He decided to stay where he was and wait for the person to come to him, saving himself the time and energy. Closer and closer the figure came to him, until finally he was able to recognize his face.

"Tousen," Ichigo said out loud and wondered if it would grab the man's attention.

"Ichigo Kurosaki," the former 9th Division Captain began, "I've finally caught up to you."

- - -

"Ichigo's reitsu, I can feel it now." Stark said to Aizen. "At least, I think that's his spiritual pressure. It's different from an arrancar's."

"Yes, that's our Ichigo," Aizen replied. "Let's go."

"Yes," Stark followed behind him, passing through the corridor. He noticed Aizen was moving a little more faster than he was before, and he too increased his speed just a little so he could keep up with him.

Fifteen feet away from the pair, another Espada was leaning against the wall listening to every word they had said. It was the sixth Espada, Grimmjow, who had accidentally ran into the two on his way around Las Noches.

_Why the hell is that punk Stark standing with Aizen? _Grimmjow frowned.

He stopped and listened in on what they had to say for a while before they continued moving.

"Ichigo's missing, huh?" Grimmjow remembered the orange-haired shinigami clearly from the day he had that little skirmish with him. He still wanted to get him back for that, especially punching him in front of the entire Espada, that son of a bitch. If Aizen and his trained pet Ulquiorra hadn't interfered, he would have easily beat the brains out of him. Easily.

"One of these days I'll get you, shinigami," he said to himself and disappeared out of sight.

- - -

"That fucking hurts!" Ichigo screamed at Tousen when he gripped the boy's arm close to where one of his larger wounds was located.

The man ignored him and pulled on his arm again to get him to move.

"Come with me, Ichigo," he said.

"Let go of my arm!" Ichigo insisted. "You're making it bleed even worse!"

"You brought that upon yourself. It is not my fault." Tousen didn't seem to care that the boy was in terrible pain.

"Just let go of it."

Ichigo grabbed the blind man's hand and pulled it off his arm, taking away some of the strength he was so careful to conserve up until now. He rubbed the area under his wound trying to sooth the pain.

Tousen approached him, this time grabbing his sleeve.

"I'm going to take you to Aizen," he said.

"Let go, I can walk myself."

Ichigo slapped the man's hand off his sleeve.

"Just back off, okay?"

Ichigo stopped, his body still for a few seconds. He was beginning to lose energy significantly now, and he had no idea why. The boy dropped to his knees, suddenly feeling exhausted.

"What's wrong?" Tousen asked.

"Ugh...dammit," Ichigo swore, not finding any energy to get back on his feet.

He fell down on his hands and knees as two drops of sweat rolled down the side of his face. He would lose consciousness soon. _But I have at least five more minutes worth of stamina left._ _Did I use it up that fast?_

Ichigo clenched his teeth together and tried to fight as long as he could against passing out. He lifted his head, looking a couple yards ahead to where the hall turned a corner. Soon he saw two figures in white turn that corner, heading in their direction. Ichigo could barely see them now, his vision was going out, but he recognized the one body as Sousuke Aizen. Once he had seen the boy down on the ground, he ran over to him and called out his name only one time. Aizen was halfway to him when he had finally lost all energy and fell to the floor unconscious.

"Ichigo!" Aizen called out after seeing the boy hit the floor.

He stopped before the shinigami's body and squatted down. Laying a hand down on Ichigo's left shoulder, Aizen got a closer look at the multiple stab wounds on the boy's back. His eyes dropped and his face grew serious.

He glanced at Tousen. "Do you know who did this?"

"No, Aizen-sama, I do not."

Aizen looked away from him and back down at Ichigo's unconscious body. Behind him, the Espada, Stark, winced after seeing the damage to the young shinigami's body.

"Those wounds look really bad," he said. "It's a miracle he's alive, most people would have died of such a beating you would think."

"Stark," Aizen said without removing his gaze from Ichigo.

"Yes, Aizen-sama?"

Aizen flipped the boy over on his back, revealing the more damaging wounds located across the ventral side of his body. He waved a hand slowly over the deep slash across the abdomen, only three inches away from the actual cut.

"I want you to go get the medical kit, Stark," he ordered to the arrancar. "Take it to the second recovery room."

"Y-Yes." Stark said, taking one last look at the beaten up shinigami and then ran off down the hall.

Aizen slide his left hand across the top of Ichigo's shoulders and his right hand behind his knees, picking him up off the ground. He pulled the boy against his chest and cradled him in his arms. Before he did anything else, he turned to Tousen and said,

"Kaname, I think I should tell you this now."

"What's that, Aizen-sama?" Tousen asked.

"I believe you really should know, since you will be seeing me do a lot of things I normally don't do any other person. You'll probably question my actions and wonder why I am doing them."

He looked down at the boy lying in his arms.

"I am in love with Ichigo Kurosaki." He smiled. "That's why I feel that there are some things only I can do for him, like it's my obligation to do so. I want to take care of him. I know you all are capable of doing these things for me, but I just don't want it that way."

Aizen turned away from Tousen.

"Ah, this most sound really strange for you, hearing me say such worthless things."

"No, that's not the case." Tousen began to say. "I understand completely."

He understood what it felt like to love someone, to love _her_.

"Thank you, Kaname."

"Can you at least tell me what happened to make you feel such a strong feeling toward him?" Tousen asked.

"That's a complicated matter, Kaname."

Tousen nodded. "I'll leave him to you, Aizen-sama. I have nothing more to accomplish here."

"Yes, of course." Aizen said and walked away carrying Ichigo tightly in his arms.

He sighed, and gazed down at the fifteen-year-old nestled against him. The former captain tried to figure out before what had drawn him to this particular person, but came up with no direct answer. A couple times when he would think about it he would laugh at himself for becoming entangled in such a complicated matter. He was the man whom everyone here admires and looks up to, he is a powerful force to be reckoned with. How did he let himself give in and feel such weakness toward this shinigami boy?

"Ah, but first we need to get you stitched up, Ichigo," Aizen talked quietly. "Once you are rested I want you to tell me everything. I want to know what happened to you to get you beat up like this."

---

First off, I have a token of apology for the late 10th chapter posted up in my profile. Do I get forgiveness now, Y/N?

I got this chapter up somewhat late at night (it's nearly midnight here), but was determined to finish it and didn't want to wait until after work to get it up. Man, that last part better not have come out too cheesy or anything. I need to go to bed.


	12. Truth

**Title: **The Strongest Color

**Chapter Twelve: **Truth

**Pairing/Characters: **Aizen/Ichigo, Stark, Gin

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

---

Gently, Aizen laid the wounded, blood-covered Ichigo on top of the bed sheets. This was Las Noches' second recovery room, a designated area for any residents needing medical attention. It was very much like a hospital room in appearance, only a little less cheery. Everything in the room was white, and if it wasn't white it was either silver or gray. It was a very plain room.

Aizen didn't call for a medical arrancar upon his arrival with the substitute shinigami. He wanted to heal Ichigo himself. The man was fully capable enough to clean his wounds.

All he needed was for Stark to bring the medical kit and then he would begin treating the boy's wounds. In the meantime, however, he needed to fetch some soap and water. Luckily, each recovery room was equipped with sinks and the like, a necessity to protect against infection and the spread of germs. Aizen walked over to the sink and turned the handle labeled "HOT" on. A stream of warm water poured out into the bowl of the sink. He grabbed a small bowl out of the cupboard and a washcloth, then filled the bowl three-fourths with water. Aizen dropped the washcloth in the warm water and grabbed a bar of soap before he returned to the side of Ichigo's bed.

The former captain set the things down on the night stand. He gazed down at the shinigami, his wounds were not flowing as freely as before he noticed. However, Ichigo's uniform was a mess. It was dripping with blood almost everywhere and was ripped or torn in various areas where he was hit.

"You really do have a strong will to live, Ichigo," the man said.

Aizen remembered back in Soul Society that even after he had landed a direct hit from his zanpakuto, the boy still remained conscious. He was sure such a hit would knock him out with all the damage his body had from battling Captain Kuchiki. Ichigo didn't like to go down, that at least was certain.

He rested a hand on top of the young shinigami's forehead. The man watched him sleep for a few seconds in peace and then sighed. He slid his hand down from the boy's forehead to his lower torso.

Aizen removed Ichigo's red cloth belt from his body first, tossing the clothing past the boy's feet on the bed. Following that, he moved up on his body and opened up the white shirt, the lower half was covered in blood from the biggest gash on his body. He pulled the sleeves off his arms beginning with his left and then his right, and dropped the torn clothing on top of the belt. Without delay, Aizen moved on to removing the white hakama off Ichigo's legs. He slipped it off of his body without much trouble, trying his best not to rub the clothing against any of his wounds. The last things he took off were Ichigo's black socks and white sandals, leaving the body nude with the exception of the black shorts he wore as underwear.

Before anything else could be done, Aizen quickly went to grab a chair sitting in the corner of the room and moved it to the edge of the bed. Grabbing the cloth that soaked in the warm water of the bowl, he rubbed a small amount of soap into it. Then starting with the smallers wounds around Ichigo's body, which had stopped bleeding at this point, he gently began the cleaning process.

Halfway through he had completed the smaller cuts, Stark finally made his entrance carrying the medical kit he was sent to fetch. He approached the former captain with his back was to the door, and said,

"Aizen-sama, I've got the kit you asked for."

"Good," Aizen said without pausing from his work. "Just set it on the night stand, Stark."

The Espada did as he was instructed, and turned to take a quick glance down at the shinigami lying on the bed.

"My God, look him," he sounded shocked even though his face looked just as bored as ever. "I didn't think it'd be this bad."

"Neither did I," Aizen replied.

Stark's eyes dropped and he turned away. "Eh, if you'll excuse me."

He slowly left the room, feeling somewhat guilty for what had happened to the boy. Staying there wasn't going to help anything, especially not his conscience.

"I don't like seeing kids like him getting hurt," he said to himself. "It just doesn't sit right with me."

Aizen finished up on the smaller cuts by the time Stark had exited the room. He dropped the cloth back in the water bowl and grabbed the medical kit sitting next to it. Opening the lid, he reached for the white roll of bandages and some other smaller sized pieces for the cuts. He snapped it shut and set it back down on the night stand. Following that, he covered the minor wounds with some of the smaller bandages from the kit. Once that task was completed, he grabbed once again for the damp cloth and squeezed it to let the excess water out. As gently as possible, Aizen began to wipe the blood off of the largest wound on the shinigami's abs first.

Only a couple seconds into that process, Aizen heard Ichigo let out a tiny whimper. He looked up from the wound and saw the boy's eyes slowly open. He didn't say anything at first, not until his gaze dropped to where the former 5th Division Captain came into his view.

"Aizen...?" his voice was low when he spoke.

"It's okay, Ichigo." Aizen placed his hand on the boy's forehead and stroked it soothingly. "Go back to sleep now."

Ichigo heard his words and he obeyed, allowing his body to return to sleep. Aizen waited another minute until he pulled his hand away to return to cleaning the boy's wounds. He kept at it nonstop, washing the bloody areas and wrapping them with clean bandages, until every wound was cared for. Luckily, the shinigami stayed asleep this time, but every now and again he would wince or whine with pain.

"Just a little longer, Ichigo." He cooed every time that would happen.

With the last bandage tied in place, Aizen sat back in his chair and let out a sigh.

"Forty of them," he said out loud. "Forty wounds total from what I counted."

He glanced at the cloth, when he had grabbed it the color was white, but by now it was entirely stained with the color of crimson. The water bowl was tainted the blood color as well, even after Aizen had changed the water twice.

"So much blood," he sighed. "It's a surprise you still had the strength to even stand."

Aizen's eyes narrowed as he stared down at the shinigami's resting body.

"You're always so rash, Ichigo. If you keep it up, you're going to get yourself killed. And then..."

The ex captain dropped his voice. The rest of the sentence was inaudible.

- - -

Ichigo was slowly regaining consciousness. His eyes lifted open slowly and immediately he was aware of the pain in his body. Looking up from his position, he noticed the white ceiling and walls around him. Breathing a sigh of relief he knew he was safe for the moment.

"You awake now?" he heard a familiar voice ask.

The shinigami turned his head in the direction of the sound, his gaze falling on the image of Gin Ichimaru sitting at the side of the bed.

"You are..." Ichigo said in a low, weak voice.

"Do you feel all right? I could get ya some pills to kill the pain if you want."

"No, I don't need them," the boy replied even though he thought otherwise.

His body was sore and in pain despite what he said.

"Sure, sure," Gin didn't seem to buy into it either, but he wasn't going to enforce him to take it.

Ichigo looked back up at the ceiling. He asked the former captain,

"What are you doing here anyway?"

"I'm just watchin' ya until your man gets back."

Ichigo gave him a confused look.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Sousuke Aizen," the man answered with a grin.

The boy turned his head away from Gin.

"I don't care about him," he said in a harsh tone.

"Hey, hey, don't get so angry."

Ichigo sighed, letting the conversation end at that point. He laid silently under the white sheets of the bed staring up at the walls. The last image he could remember before he passed out, the vision of Aizen running toward him in the hall, flashed into his mind. Now he remembered. The man was calling out his name. The boy had hit the ground before he could reach him, and from then on he couldn't remember a thing.

"I was probably unconscious up until now," he told himself. "That's why."

A noise off on the side of the room broke his thoughts. Ichigo turned his head, looking off at the doorway as one lonely figure walked in from the outside. Aizen stepped in carrying a tray in one hand and greeted his partner,

"Sorry Gin, I took to long."

He walked in the room and gazed down at the bed where Ichigo lay awake, the boy's eyes were fixed on him.

"Ichigo," he began. "How do you feel?"

"I'm fine," he replied.

Aizen walked down to the night stand and set the tray he held on top of it. He looked down at the young shinigami and said,

"Let me get you something to ease the pain a bit."

Ichigo frowned.

"I don't need it," he said.

Aizen ignored him and paced over to the cabinet directly across from the bed. He pulled open the doors and reached in for a small bottle. Then before he returned to the bed again, he filled a glass up with water at the sink that was right next to the cabinet. The former captain set the things down and bent down next to the bed.

"Can you sit up, Ichigo?" he asked.

The boy didn't reply and he held his body still for sometime. He sighed, pulling his upper body up slowly against the headboard.

"Here," Aizen said and placed each of his hands on either side of the substitute shinigami's torso to help him.

Ichigo didn't refuse him helping. He got his back leaning against the bed's headboard, but in doing so his body felt even worse than before. Aizen handed him the glass of water and he accepted it, taking the glass from his hand. The man opened the bottle and dropped two pills in his hand. Again, he offered these to Ichigo and he took them without protest.

"Take these," he said. "I'll give you a third if you think you need it later. It's not wise to overdose on such things."

Silently, Ichigo took the two pills and washed them down with the water in the glass. He never realized he was so thirsty and so he began chugging the liquid down.

"Don't do that, Ichigo," Aizen told him. "Take small sips."

Just after he finished that last note, the shinigami stopped and began coughing as the water went down his throat. He stopped and held his neck, taking deep breaths of air into his lungs. Aizen took the glass from his hand.

"Don't you see what kind of condition your body is in?" his voice raised a little.

"I don't care," Ichigo replied without any emotion.

"You don't care what happens to you? That explains why your body was in such a state when I found you. You care that little about your life?"

"Since when did you start caring about my damn life, Aizen!" Ichigo yelled. "I asked you before and you won't answer me. As a matter of fact, you never answer my questions!"

Gin stood up and placed a hand on Ichigo's shoulder.

"Hey, hey, just calm down," he told him.

Ichigo didn't obey him, but he let his voice drop down to a normal tone.

"I had to go find the answers myself. I wanted to know the truth."

Aizen closed his eyes for a moment and softly sighed. He got up and sat at the end of the bed on top of the sheets. Looking at Ichigo, he said in a serious tone of voice,

"Just as I thought."

Ichigo glanced back at Gin and the man stepped back and removed his hand from the boy's shoulder. Aizen continued,

"You went in there then," he said impassively.

"Yeah, I went inside the black room."

"Even though I specifically told you not to do near that place any more."

"Like I was going to listen to you. You never told me anything about that place so I took found out myself."

"Don't give me that." Aizen frowned. "It was better that you didn't know about it. I did it so you could rest soundly with your ignorance."

"Like I could rest easy in a place like this in the first place. Nightmares and old painful memories, that's all my mind has been filled with each and every time I fall asleep in here."

Aizen stood up in silence and took five steps away from the bed. He didn't say anything for a minute. He just stood there. Ichigo had his eyes on his back.

"I should tell you the truth," he finally said. "Would that satisfy you, Ichigo?"

The shinigami representative nodded.

"Yes."

"This might be a little overwhelming to you, but let me tell you now that everything I tell you is the undeniable truth."

"Then tell me." Ichigo ordered.

"The black room, as you like to call it, is one of our forms of capital punishment. Out of the ten individuals who have entered that place, none of them have escaped with their lives."

---

The truth of the Nightmare Room will be fully told in the next chapter. Don't you just hate me for ending it right there? I know, if I was somebody else I won't like me either. XD


	13. Reality Sinks in

**Title: **The Strongest Color

**Chapter Thirteen: **Reality Sinks in

**Pairing/Characters: **Aizen/Ichigo, Gin

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

---

"What did you say?" Ichigo asked with a shocked expression across his face.

"That room," Aizen began to say again, "is a death sentence for anyone who enters."

The shinigami representative lowered his head and looked down at his naked, bandaged body. He put his hand over the wound on his lower abdomen. The boy couldn't find anything to say.

"I know what you're thinking," Aizen said as he turned toward him. "'Why then did I make it out alive?' Well, I can't give any specific answer for that. However, you were not sentenced to die in that place. You went there for your own purposes. Maybe you just have a stronger will to live than the others who knew they were as good as dead."

Ichigo was silent as he absorbed all the information into his head. It was overwhelming to know that you just survived something that could have taken away your life forever.

"I was dead," he began to say, "only for a few minutes, but then I came back...to life. The pain disappeared from my body and I couldn't feel a thing. I heard my mother's voice. She was talking to me, telling me not to die."

Aizen listened intently as Ichigo spoke, his eyes were completely focused on him.

"Before I knew it, I could feel my body again. I stood up with strength that came out of nowhere it seemed. With that power I was able to walk out of there with my life."

"May I ask," the former 5th Division Captain began, "who it was that you fought in that room?"

Ichigo's gaze dropped down to the bed sheets.

"I didn't see him." He lied. "It was so dark, and I couldn't see what he looked like."

There was a short pause before Aizen spoke again.

"I see," he said, but in his mind he had his doubts about Ichigo's claim to have not seen anyone. The boy couldn't look into his eyes because he was hiding something, and that was quite obvious.

"One thing I can say," Ichigo revealed, "is that I heard a voice talking to me. It didn't sound like it was in the room, but rather that it was inside my head." He paused for a second. "I asked him who he was."

"And what did it say?" Aizen asked, interested.

"I heard him say something like, 'I am everything, I am the darkness, but I am fear'. I'm not sure what it means."

Aizen smiled. "That's about the best way to describe what he is."

"What are you talking about?" Ichigo was confused. "Do you know what that voice is?"

Gin smiled from his seat behind the shinigami boy.

"He knows more about it than you think. In fact," he added, "he knows the room better than anyone else."

Ichigo frowned. "You knew all about it and you still didn't tell me?"

Aizen was silent, giving the boy a convincing sorry face.

"Why?" Ichigo yelled, wanting an answer from him.

"I made a mistake," Aizen's gaze dropped. "You weren't supposed to get involved in this."

"Well now I am," the substitute shinigami stated with a cold look, "whether you wanted it or not."

Aizen moved next to the side of the bed and dropped down to his knees. He looked up at the boy and said sincerely,

"I'm sorry, Ichigo."

The young shinigami's angry look faded from his face, having been surprised by the man's sudden change. He was silent as he looked down at the ex captain. He had never seen him act like this before.

Aizen grabbed the boy's left hand and held it in between both of his. He pulled Ichigo's hand up to his lips and gently his kissed it.

"This is my fault," he said. Ichigo could feel the man's warm breath on his fingers as he spoke those words.

Ichigo saw the pain his eyes then, the same eyes his younger sister Yuzu would give him whenever he would come home with a bruise on his face from a fight with wannabe punks.

_How can someone who has so much wrong, how can they break down like this? I shouldn't feel sorry for him, but..._

Ichigo brought his right hand up and laid it down on top of Aizen's. The former captain stared up at the boy's face at that moment as Ichigo said,

"Don't feel sorry for me." He added, "I don't want anyone to have to worry themselves because of me."

Aizen barely smiled in response. "I see, if that's how you want it."

"Now get up," Ichigo said, "and tell me everything you know about the black room."

Gin was smiling in his chair, his chin resting on his palm.

"That's some good work," he said to himself, watching Aizen stand back up on his feet.

The former 5th Captain glanced at Gin, who continued to smile back at him.

"Gin," Aizen said to him.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Pour some of the tea," he paused to look at the wounded boy in bed. "It's about time Ichigo learned the truth."

- - -

Once everything had settled down and the tea was poured for Aizen and Gin, the former captain of Squad 5 began to give out the information Ichigo sought.

"After I left Soul Society," he began to say, sitting next to Gin on an extra chair, "I transformed the ten Menos you saw take us away into arrancar using the hougyoku I had recently acquired from Rukia Kuchiki's soul. After I had built up my army to a fairly decent size, I decided I needed something besides my authority to keep the arrancar under control. With my own hands I created that which you know as 'the black room' or 'the Nightmare room'. The room was never given a name, you know. 'The Nightmare room' was just a title given to it by the arrancar as they shared stories about the place to each other. The reason being, the room itself creates illusions, much like my Kyoka Suigetsu does. However, it does not create just any illusion, it creates a vision of the very thing, whether it is an event or a person, that the victim fears the most at the time of their arrival in the room. While most arrancar have no fear of anything, there are always the weak ones who do not, and they are thrown into the room as punishment for their wrongdoings."

He paused for a second.

"The most recent arrancar I had inside of the room was Ilfort Grantz. You remember him, I'm sure."

"You mean the guy that I escaped from the first time?" Ichigo remembered his actions against the 15th arrancar, smashing that glass against his face.

"Yes, that's who it was."

"But why? Don't tell me it was because he let me go that got him killed."

Aizen didn't answer, instead he sipped out of his tea cup. Gin spoke to him in his place.

"He failed to do what Aizen had told him," the fox faced man said. "So he got punished for it."

"But did you really have to kill him? You didn't have to go that far!"

The former 3rd Division Captain shrugged.

"That is how I run things here." Aizen butted in. "You don't have to approve of it if you don't want to."

Ichigo held his tongue, allowing for the man to continue.

"Ten of them I have thrown in that room, and ten dead bodies did we find afterwards. Only the eleventh one has survived, and that would so happen to be you, Ichigo Kurosaki."

Ichigo froze, suddenly reminded of the words he heard that voice from the room say to him. He called him 'Eleven'. Did the voice really know that he would come to that place before Ichigo himself even decided on it?

"The voice you heard," Aizen began to say, "is known as 'The Executioner'. What he is, is the consciousness of the room. Just like a zanpakuto, that place is alive. It is not a tool or a thing, it can think, it can speak. He is everything in the room, he is the darkness you see inside, and he is the fear that he shows to you within that world. He is what he is, The Executioner of the room."

"An executioner..." Ichigo whispered.

"You must be wary of him, Ichigo." Aizen was serious. "Even I don't know what actions he could be possible of committing."

"Yeah," the boy replied.

"I don't want you going there by yourself."

"Yeah."

"Look at me."

Ichigo glanced up at Aizen.

"You are forbidden to go into that room. Don't even let the thought cross your mind."

"Tck," the shinigami boy looked off at the walls. "Like I care."

Aizen frowned, having not gotten the right response from Ichigo. He stood up and grabbed a hold of the teenager's arm. He applied pressure on one of his larger wounds, gripping it, and Ichigo screamed.

"Don't do it," he said as an order.

Ichigo clenched his teeth and looked up at Aizen with a painful look on his face. The former captain released his hold on the boy's arm and backed away. As he walked off to another part of the room, both Ichigo's and Gin's stares were on his back. Aizen turned to them and said specifically to the shinigami representative,

"Go to sleep now. We will worry about this later."

And immediately after that, he excused himself from the recovery room and was gone.

"Well, well," Gin sighed as he turned back to Ichigo. "That was interesting."

"That's for you to say," Ichigo replied. "Geez, leave me alone for a while."

"Would that make you feel better?"

"If he's not always in my face all the time, then yeah it would."

There was silence and then Gin asked,

"Do you still have a dislike for me?"

"You're not any better than him."

"That's too bad," Gin said with disappointment.

Ichigo ignored the man and gazed off into the corner of the room. He did so for three or four minutes without any interruption. A cup suddenly came into his view and he looked over a Gin who was holding the tea in his hand.

"You're still thirsty, aren't you?" he asked. "Take it."

Ichigo nodded and grabbed the cup from his hand. He brought it up to his mouth and took a couple small sips of the tea.

"Ahh," he set the tea cup on his lap with his hands wrapped around it.

He looked at Gin who was watching him with a smile. Ichigo found it disturbing and asked,

"Do you always have to look so creepy all the time?"

"Then can I ask why you always look so angry all the time?" Gin countered.

Ichigo looked away from him and took some more sips of the tea. He finished it in peace and without glancing over at the former third Division Captain as he continued to watch him. The boy handed the cup back to him empty.

"Was it good?" Gin asked as he took the cup.

"Sure, it was okay. Why shouldn't it be?"

"Well ya see," he began to say, "since Aizen only brought two cups with him when he came, and since he didn't finish the rest of his, I gave you his tea cup."

"You did what?!" Ichigo screamed.

"Hey, hey, you didn't realize it until now and you said it was okay, so what's the big deal?"

"You say that as if it's okay that I just tasted the same cup, the same tea, that he put his mouth to first!"

"Ya don't have to put it like that. It's more like you kissed him, only not physically."

"Shut up, just stop talking! I don't want to hear any more of your sick fantasies!"

"Oh, it can get a lot worse than that."

"That's great, just keep it to yourself."

Ichigo slowly got himself to lie back down on his back. He groaned in pain and pulled the sheets over his body.

"Everywhere I lay, I'm lying on one of my wounds," he complained as he shut his eyes. "Damn that hollow."

Gin sat back and watched the boy as he fell asleep. He grabbed his own cup sitting on the night stand and drank a mouthful of tea. He put the cup back down and sighed. On his own he had decided to watch the boy for a while, or at least until the medical arrancar arrives to heal his wounds further. He didn't mind doing it.

_In any way possible, I'll try help you get used to us. You see, Ichigo, we really aren't as bad as you may think._

_---_

Lots of information in this chapter, so let it all sink in!


	14. Painful

**Title**: The Strongest Color

**Chapter Fourteen: **Painful

**Pairing/Characters: **Aizen/Ichigo, Gin/Rangiku, Ulquiorra/Aizen

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

---

The medical arrancar had come and gone, closing up the many wounds on his body as Ichigo got some much needed rest. Gin stayed in the room with the shinigami boy as he said he would, sipping the remainder of the tea Aizen and Ichigo did not finish. He watched the arrancar scurry away immediately after she had completed the healing process and shrugged. Gin knew he had that kind of effect on others. They would all want to get as far away as possible from him. However, not everyone was that way around him. Aizen, of course, and Izuru, then there was his childhood friend, Rangiku, none of them were like that.

He sighed, setting the cup down on the night stand. There wasn't a day that passed by that he hadn't desired to visit Soul Society again. His leaving was sudden and he wasn't able to properly say goodbye to any of those he left behind for Hueco Mundo. Even more so than anything else, he regretted leaving Rangiku behind.

"Maybe that's how it's supposed to be," he told himself. "My place is here, and her place is in Soul Society."

The former Third Division Captain glanced down at Ichigo. He was still sleeping, and he had been for nearly two hours now. As he began to think about it, the two of them were in the same predicament, or will be in Ichigo's case. Both of them remain in Hueco Mundo, leaving the ones that care about them behind, regrets weighing down on them. Ichigo will choose Aizen over everyone and everything else, just as Gin did, and break the bonds of his past life. Everyone must make sacrifices in life, and there is no way around that.

"Ah, well," Gin sighed as he stood up from the chair. "That's enough of that."

He paced to the opposite side of the room and stared at the empty wall. His mind was blank just like the wall in front of him. He did not think and he did not remember. Gin just stared at the white color almost as if in a trance.

He suddenly caught the sound of bed sheets rustling behind him, and snapped back to reality. The ex Captain turned around, only to see that the boy had shifted his body as he was resting. Gin sighed and returned to his chair seated next to him.

He lasted only half an hour. By that time, the man had successfully drifted off into sleep just as Ichigo did hours before.

- - -

After he had excused himself from the recovery room, Aizen had decided to go down to Ichigo's room for the first time since his second escape from it. He wanted to check it out for himself, to try to find the truth about today's events.

The door to Ichigo's room was left unlocked, just as it was when the boy had left it. Aizen pressed his hand against the door and pushed it open without effort. He walked into the silent, empty room and stood on the large rug that was below his feet. The man's brown eyes had their gaze all around the area as he inspected it in detail. Nothing was disturbed or out of place from what he could see. That meant nothing, however, just that someone from the outside allowed for Ichigo to escape.

Was there a traitor amongst them? Or was it something beyond that? What would they hope to gain from such an act in the first place?

Aizen couldn't think of anything right off the bat. He felt he had got quite a bit of information out of Ichigo about what had happened, but even with that nothing seemed to strike him as odd. Stark claimed to be asleep when the events had occurred and he knew nothing about what had happened.

There was always the option of interrogating the other arrancar. However, even that would be too time consuming and he might not get anything out of it in the end.

The former captain let it go for a moment, moving over to Ichigo's bed. He sat down at the edge, his feet still planted on the floor. Aizen folded his hands as if in prayer and laid them down on his lap. He breathed softly. His gaze fixed on the ground.

"I never imagined it would come to this," he said as the image of the blood soaked shinigami boy appeared in his mind. He closed his eyes and sighed.

Recreating the past events that happened later that day in his thoughts, he sat quietly absorbing it all in. He did so for a while uninterrupted, and only a couple minutes later did he notice the presence of someone standing in the open doorway ahead of him. He lifted his eyes and gazed upon the visitor. He was not startled to see anyone there and was as calm as he always was.

"Ulquiorra," he said the guest's name out loud with a short pause afterwards. "What brings you here?"

"I'm sorry to intrude, Aizen-sama," the 4th Espada apologized. "I just saw you sitting here as I passed by and came in to check."

"Yes, well," Aizen began as he unfolded his hands, "You must have heard what has happened."

"No, I'm afraid I haven't."

"Ichigo went into _that room_ after having escaped the sights of Stark, who was watching him at the time."

Ulquiorra seemed unaffected by the news.

"That's a pity," he said without feeling the least bit sorry for him.

"However," Aizen began to tell him, "he was able to escape with his life, but not without any expense. He had deep wounds that would surely have killed him, and his body was covered in blood when I finally got to him. Such a feat is unthinkable you would think, but the truth is that it did happen."

Aizen smiled. "He sure is something, isn't he?"

Ulquiorra didn't reply, verbally or otherwise. The former captain realized this and asked,

"What is it, Ulquiorra?"

The Espada's gaze fell from his master and down to a spot on the floor.

"May I ask you something personal, Aizen-sama?"

"I won't hide anything."

"Then I want to know what kind of feelings you have for Ichigo Kurosaki." He looked up at the man, awaiting his answer.

"There's no doubting what you feel in your heart. I strongly feel is that Ichigo Kurosaki is mine and he belongs to no one else. There's no mistake that I hold a deep affection for him."

After hearing that, Ulquiorra clenched his teeth together behind his closed lips.

"That trash does not deserve someone as great as Aizen-sama," he told himself.

"You're upset, I know." Aizen said, reading his emotions clearly.

"Why?"

"I've never been as happy as I am now. Knowing that I can be with him satisfies me."

"Then that's it...,isn't it?"

Aizen stood up from the bed and walked toward the doorway. He got up next to the arrancar and said without glancing at him,

"You don't love me, Ulquiorra. Just let it go."

Ulquiorra looked down at his feet.

"Aizen-sama..."

The former captain didn't stay, and without another word he left the Espada alone standing in between Ichigo's room and the hallway. Ulquiorra was silent and motionless for a long time afterwards.

"I must not get angry," he used to say that to himself many times. Right now he didn't give a fuck.

The 4th Espada clenched his right hand into a fist. His blood began to boil. He hated that boy now more than ever. He stole Aizen-sama from him. The one that he admires the most in his life, and the first person he had ever held any strong feelings for. Now all that has been shattered by one little human boy.

"Ichigo Kurosaki," he muttered, "the next time I see you, I swear on my word as a member of the Espada that I will kill you. If the Executioner won't do it, then I will."

- - -

The morning following Ichigo's escape and trip to The Nightmare Room, the substitute shinigami had insisted on returning to his original room. However, it wasn't without some tighter security.

"If you wish to return to your own room," Aizen had told him that morning after breakfast, "then not only will there be Espada inside during your meals, but there will also be guards set outside your door at all hours."

"Fine, whatever," Ichigo replied. "You're the one running the place so it's not like I can complain."

"Your attitude's startin' to get better at least," Gin remarked.

"Geez, you're still here?" Ichigo looked in his direction. "And anyway, my attitude toward him is exactly the same as it was yesterday. Nothing has changed."

Ichigo stopped for a second as suddenly realized something.

"Hey, are you going to give me something to wear at least? I've been in my freakin' underwear ever since I got here."

"Don't worry," Aizen reassured him, "I've got something coming. But first, let's check on how your wounds are healing."

The man stepped forward toward the edge of the bed where Ichigo sat upright against the headboard. He bent over and reached his hand out toward the bandaged wound on the boy's abs. As he reached out however, Ichigo blocked him from touching it when he threw his arm in front of him. Aizen stopped and the boy gestured toward the bandaged section on his upper arm.

The former Squad Five Captain smiled. He got the message the teen was giving him.

"Well then," Aizen sighed as he began pulling off the white material, exposing the cut. "Looks good, considering you received it not even a full twenty-four hours ago."

Ichigo looked down at the wound. He was surprised, it looked as if it was more than halfway through healing.

"One of our medical arrancar came in while you were sleeping and healed you. She did an amazing job with it."

Aizen got back up on his feet.

"Can you stand?" he asked.

Ichigo nodded.

"Then come over here. We should change your bandages before you get dressed."

The boy frowned in disapproval. He argued with Aizen over it, but the argument ended in Aizen's favor. Ichigo gave in, allowing the man to take off the damned bandages and touch his nearly naked body. The boy made sure to groan every so often to remind Aizen that he wasn't enjoying it.

Gin was sent off to go retrieve some clean clothes that he returned with as Aizen was halfway through applying the new bandages on Ichigo. He made quick work of it and went along with Ichigo to his old room.

Once he was left alone in his room, Ichigo laid himself down on top of the bed sheets. Now he finally has some time to himself. He stared up at the white wall for a while before he shut his eyes. The boy thought of the black room and of his hollow double. Everything inside of there felt so real, and yet it was an illusion. No, he thought, that white bastard was too real to him. What if somehow the room was able to project him out of his mind for a period of time? That was the real thing, and Ichigo knew it.

_The Executioner brought me back to life because he knew that he wasn't the one who killed me, it was my hollow self that did. I don't know if that makes any sense, but that's all I can think of. I guess I can't exactly explain it too well._

Ichigo dropped his hand on top of his face and growled. He was trying to see if he could make any heads or tails of the events that took place in The Nightmare Room, but head started to hurt just thinking about it.

"I guess I should just take it easy for now," he said. "Rest my body and all that."

Ichigo rolled on his side and laid his head down on the pillow. He tried to get his body to fall asleep, and even went as far as taking deep breaths of air to calm himself down. In a half hour his work paid off and somehow his body gave in and went to sleep.

---

OMG a short chapter with not a whole lot going on! Ah, trust me the next chapter's going to be 200 percent better than this one. It's somewhat of a comic relief chapter, well that's just what I think anyway. Until next week, I'm out!


	15. A Two Man Job

**Title: **The Strongest Color

**Chapter Fifteen: **A Two-Man Job

**Pairing/Characters: **Aizen/Ichigo, Szayel Aporro, Noitora

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

---

The day that Ichigo returned to his original room was now yesterday, and the substitute shinigami did not plan on wasting away another day sleeping. He knew that he was well-rested at this point, noticing that his wounds weren't nearly as sore as they had been before. In fact, they didn't bother him at all anymore.

Ichigo woke up that morning with tons of energy, energy that he had no idea how to waste. Now more than ever, he hated being confined to such a small room.

Unable to find any activity to keep himself busy, the orange-haired boy waited around for breakfast to come at the usual time that it did every day. He sat perched on the very top the white sofa with his feet resting on the cushions of the actual seating area. Ichigo watched the door from that spot, holding his chin up on his palm and his elbow down on top of his leg. He waited in that same position for twenty minutes at least, and there still was no sign of the fourth Espada or the servant.

"Damn him," Ichigo swore, now irritated that Ulquiorra had not come.

He dropped his body on the couch where his feet previously were and rolled over on his back. The boy decided to give up on it until dinner. The arrancar obviously wasn't coming in today.

Now he was left with nothing to do for another couple hours.

- - -

Szayel Aporro strutted around Las Noches with a smile across his face. He felt incredibly happy today, and it showed. This morning he had received wonderful news regarding a recent dreadful event in his life. There was another chance for him, and it wouldn't require much from him to receive it.

The 8th Espada had waited until it was past lunchtime to head out for the boy's room. He wanted to talk to Ichigo Kurosaki personally. It wasn't anyone else's business to know about this. The man had already decided, only he and Ichigo were to be involved. Any extras would only be a nuisance.

The two arrancar guarding the shinigami's door saw him coming from down the hall. They both turned their heads toward him, all their attention and interest now fell on him. The Espada didn't change his manner of walking and he continued on as if they were not even there. Still, the two continued their staring.

"Excuse me," Szayel Aporro said, finally raising his gaze to look at them. "I must ask you to let me through."

The arrancar looked unsure.

"I don't know if we're allowed," one of them spoke up.

"I am a member of the Espada. You will let me in."

The 8th Espada let out a wave of spirit energy on the guards just to remind them of that. They slouched forward a little in reaction to his reitsu, but they still managed to stay on their feet.

"So how about it?"

The arrancar on the right side of the door reached in on of his pockets for a key. He pulled it out slowly, holding it with his thumb and index finger. The guard glanced at the other arrancar right next to him and then turned around. He inserted the key, turned it, and pushed the door open once it was unlocked. After that, he hurriedly moved out of the way of the 8th Espada and allowed him passage.

Szayel Aporro stepped in the room, meeting the gaze of the young shinigami seated on the couch. Behind him, he heard the door creek and he said to the guards without taking his eyes off the boy,

"There's no need to lock it. I will be out soon."

The door was shut. Szayel Aporro then spoke to the shinigami,

"Nice to meet you, Ichigo Kurosaki."

"And the same to you," Ichigo replied without much interest in the pink-haired arrancar.

"I've heard some very interesting things about you, Ichigo."

The Espada smiled and sat down on the edge of the bed in a way so that he was facing the boy.

"Probably," Ichigo closed his eyes for a second and smirked.

"It's gotten around quite quickly that you were able to survive 'The Nightmare Room.' Even the Espada were astounded when news reached them. I mean, to go into that room and live to tell about it, that's quite an amazing feat."

"Heh," Ichigo smiled and leaned back against the couch with his left arm outstretched across the top. He was very much enjoying the praise he was receiving. "Well, it wasn't easy you know."

"I have to admit, back when I first saw you I didn't think you were anything special. All I saw was some human that didn't carry enough potential to be anything great. In fact, that's what a lot of us thought. You see, Ulquiorra had announced it after his first mission to the real world that you weren't a possible threat to Aizen. Looks like he was wrong."

"What are you saying? That I'm a threat?"

"Well, there's no doubt you have great potential to be one, but that's not what I was implying."

"Then what is it?"

"You want to get stronger?"

"Of course I do," Ichigo answered. "I'm no where near Aizen's level of strength. I don't even have enough to be on par with the Espada like Ulquiorra or Grimmjow."

"You're past the level of our tenth Espada, Yammy, that I can assure you at least."

"You mean the big guy that was with Ulquiorra?"

Szayel Aporro nodded.

"You know, I can help you," he told him.

"What? But, uh, don't you think you'd get in trouble?"

The Espada smiled.

"Don't worry about it. I'll keep it quiet."

Ichigo smiled in response.

"Glasses-"

"Don't call me 'Glasses'. My name is Szayel Aporro Grantz, the 8th Espada."

"Well, um, Szayel...Wait a second! You're the 8th Espada?!"

"That's what I said, didn't I?"

"Yes, but..."

_Never mind, he does look like he'd be a lower-ranking Espada._

"Were you just thinking that I'm a weakling?" Szayel Aporro glared at Ichigo.

"No, what made you think that?"

"You just stopped in the middle of your sentence and then suddenly got quiet."

"Psh, you just disappointed me because I thought you were stronger than that."

"You realize though that I'm stronger than you are, boy? I wouldn't have any problem taking you down."

"Ch-," Ichigo crossed his arms. "I'd like to see that happen."

Szayel Aporro sighed and placed his left and right fingertips together, letting his hands fall in between his legs.

"Let's get back to the matter at hand. Ichigo-"

"Not 'Ichigo'," the boy interrupted. "Just address me as 'Kurosaki'."

"Hm, that's fine too. Well then Kurosaki, do you know what happened to your zanpakuto?"

"Um," Ichigo's gaze moved off to a corner of the room. "I haven't seen Zangetsu ever since I fought with Ulquiorra back in the real world. Even so, I can feel that he's somewhere near me. I've been feeling that the whole time I've been here."

"Well, you are correct when you said that it's somewhere close to you," Szayel Aporro began. "Because in fact it is. Just recently, a very reliable source enlightened me with the information of your zanpakuto's exact location."

Ichigo stared at him wide-eyed in surprise.

"Who? Who told you?" he asked.

"That," the 8th Espada pointed his index finger at the shinigami, "must remain a secret. I cannot tell you _who _told me this, but I certainly can tell you _where _your blade is."

Ichigo awaited his next words. There's got to be a catch. Szayel didn't seem like the type of guy to give such information freely.

"Before I tell you of that, there is one thing you must agree to do."

"Name it."

"When you head off on this little escapade to retrieve your lost sword, I will be personally accompanying you."

"Is that all?" Ichigo looked relieved.

"What did you think I would say? Tell me. I'm curious."

"Oh, nothing. I just thought it would be, you know, something where I had to do something 'daring'."

"This isn't an initiation!"

"I know, but you seemed sick enough to do ask me to do something like that."

"And what other assumptions have you made of me other than I was weak and perverted?"

"For starters, you look like one of those guys that's constantly fussing about his looks," Ichigo pointed out.

"Well that's..." Szayel Aporro pushed his glasses up with one finger.

"Man, I can't believe it."

"There's nothing wrong with trying to look your best! Just look at you! You're a mess!"

Szayel Aporro jumped up from his seat and pointed a finger at the substitute shinigami. Ichigo then got up from his and stood up in his face.

"Hey, this isn't my fault! I was in a fight two days ago!"

"Fine, fine, Kurosaki." The arrancar sighed. "You sure are quick to an argument."

Ichigo stepped back from him with his arms folded over his chest.

"So we're in at an agreement then? We'll be working as a team to get your precious zanpakuto back."

"I guess I can agree with that."

"Good, well, I guess I should be telling you where we will be heading off to this afternoon."

Szayel Aporro looked Ichigo in the eye and said,

"Your zanpakuto, Kurosaki, just so happens to be hidden in a chest inside of Sosuke Aizen's bedroom."

Ichigo quickly turned away from the Espada and said,

"Oh hey, I just remembered that I have to go change my bandages. Look's like you're on your own, Szayel."

"You're not leaving me are you?" Szayel Aporro grabbed the back of Ichigo's collar.

"There is no way in hell I'm going anywhere near there! Now let me go!"

"You already agreed to it, Kurosaki. You're in this whether you like it or not."

"You know what? I think my zanpakuto isn't even in there. You're just leading me in there because Aizen told you to."

"That is where you are wrong."

"Huh?"

"I can tell you for certain that I do not hold a strong bond to Aizen. I'll give you my word on the fact that I'm one of the few people you can trust here."

"Sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"No, you had every right to be suspicious. I know I don't trust a few of the arrancar myself."

He let go of the boy's shirt collar and sighed.

"We should get going to make sure that we get it done before we get caught."

Ichigo nodded and followed behind Szayel Aporro. He couldn't help but wonder why the arrancar wanted to stand up against Aizen. He was after all his master and creator. The shinigami wanted to ask him about it, but he held his tongue.

"He's helping me so I can get Zangetsu back," he told himself. "I don't think it would be right to ask him for anything more than that."

- - -

"Try to keep up, Kurosaki," the pink-haired Espada called over his shoulder.

"Dammit, I'm trying!" Ichigo yelled back at him. "I'm not exactly in peak condition right now."

"We're almost there. It's right up ahead."

"Is it really necessary that we have to run all the way over there?"

"Stop complaining. I thought that you'd be used to pain by now."

"Why don't you slow down then?" Ichigo paused. "Huh?"

Szayel Aporro had stopped abruptly in the middle of the hallway right in front of Ichigo. The boy was far enough behind him to be able to slow down to a stop before he could have collided with the arrancar.

"Hey, Szayel." Ichigo stared at him. "What is-"

"Get back," the 8th Espada ordered. "Hurry into that room!"

The substitute shinigami quickly jumped into the room off to their left, the one Szayel Aporro was gesturing toward. Behind him, the arrancar followed and pulled the door shut the best he could without making noise.

"Who was out there?" Ichigo whispered a couple seconds later.

"Shh!" Szayel Aporro lifted a finger in front of his lips.

The boy was silent, carefully listening for the sound of the man outside the door. A single pair of footsteps sounded across the floor toward the pair's hiding spot.

"Szayel Aporro," the voice of the man called.

Ichigo felt the Espada next to him stir, but he did not in any way answer his call. The man had continued down the hall, moving farther and farther away from them. The boy waited another thirty seconds, by that time the guy outside was already long gone. He looked at Szayel Aporro who was squatted down next to him in the darkness of the room.

"Do you know who that was?" Ichigo asked him again.

"It was Noitora," he replied without looking at the boy. "We don't want to get ourselves mixed up with that guy."

"Is he strong?"

Szayel Aporro got back on his feet and brushed off his left shoulder.

"Like you have no idea. If you were to fight him now, you'd be crushed in less than five minutes. That's if he decided to go easy on you anyway."

Ichigo stood up.

"Is he the strongest one in the Espada?" he asked with his eyes focused on the arrancar.

"You'll have to find that out yourself and learn all the numbers of each of the Espada."

"That's fine. I don't expect to rely on you to give me all the information on the Espada anyway."

"Good. Well, let's get moving."

- - -

They finally made it. Szayel Aporro and Ichigo were now standing right in front of their destination. The only thing left to do now was to grab the goods and get the hell out of there, and the faster the better.

"What are you waiting for, open it," Ichigo said to his companion.

"Will you calm down," Szayel Aporro shot back. "I'm just preparing myself to do just that."

"Well hurry it up. We don't have all day you know."

The 8th Espada grabbed a hold of the door handle and turned it. He pushed the door open and stood in the middle of the space between the hall and the room.

"Good job. You're almost there, Szayel!"

Ichigo didn't move from his spot behind him. The arrancar turned his head to see him.

"What you think I'm going in by myself?"

"Why not? You know where it is hot shot, and I don't. You go in and get it."

"Fine. Just stay where you are and warn me when someone approaches. That way you won't be completely useless."

Ichigo crossed his arms over his chest and watched Szayel Aporro walk into the room from his distance from it. He waited for him standing as still as a statue would be except for the occasional glance to the left or right down the hall to spot anyone who may be wandering around. The shinigami boy grew bored after a while and by then he had switched to just barely glancing down the halls. However, once a figure had finally appeared in his view, the teenager was completely knocked off his guard.

He did a double take down his right end of the hall and what he saw coming for him just happened to be the one person he prayed wouldn't meet up with them. Ichigo panicked, looking from the room that Szayel Aporro had disappeared into to the man slowing making his way toward him and back again. He stepped forward and slammed his hands against the doorframe, sticking only his head in the room.

"Szayel, he's here!" He called. "Frickin' Sousuke Aizen is here!"

"Get rid of him," was the arrancar's reply.

"What?"

"You heard me, Kurosaki. Distract him and get him away from here."

"Easier said than done," he thought.

Ichigo threw himself out of the doorway and faced his body directly at the approaching man. Cold sweat trickled down the side of his face as he took a deep breath in. Step after step, he advanced toward the man, still unsure as to how he would buy time for Szayel Aporro. He had to do something, or else this mission would end of in failure and he might never get another chance to get Zangetsu back.

He swallowed. The boy's steps now turned into a sprint as he ran straight toward his target that stood only a few feet away. He prepared himself for what he was about to do, something his father always did to him.

Ichigo was close enough now. He leapt in the air and extended his right leg forward.

"Here it comes!" He yelled and finished a successful drop kick on Aizen.

The boy landed on his feet gracefully and looked down at the man's body lying on the ground. Looking closer at it though, he wondered if this really was Aizen.

"He wouldn't be knocked out like that if I hit him," Ichigo thought.

"Don't you think you went too far going through with something like that," a voice behind him said.

Ichigo whirled around, his eyes resting their gaze on the real Sousuke Aizen.

"Shatter Kyoka Suigetsu."

The body lying on the ground disappeared and in it's place, lay the zanpakuto of the man now standing before Ichigo. The boy shook in fear as he didn't know what to do. Running was useless. Fighting was useless. Talking wouldn't do any good for him, not now.

"May I ask what are you doing here, Ichigo?" Aizen asked without any emotion in his voice.

Ichigo failed to answer, instead he went and followed through with the first idea that popped in his mind. He turned around and wrapped his fingers around the hilt of the zanpakuto that fell to the floor. Now he faced the former captain with the blade of his sword pointed directly at him.

"The tables have turned in my favor, Aizen!" Ichigo smirked.

---

Szayel Aporro may have been a little OOC at times, but it's all for the fun.

Ichigo: Do you think there's more than one Aizen? Like he cloned himself or something? Because he's frickin' everywhere!

Szayel: He's just stalking you, can't you tell?

Ichigo: God, what a pervert.

Aizen secretly is a stalker, you just didn't know it!


	16. Time to Fight Back

**Title: **The Strongest Color

**Chapter Sixteen: **Time to Fight Back

**Pairing/Characters: **Aizen/Ichigo, Szayel Aporro

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

---

"You truly believe you have gained the upper hand over me just by taking Kyoka Suigetsu away from me?" Aizen asked as he tried not to laugh at Ichigo's poor judgement. "Even without it, I am still far beyond your level."

Ichigo clenched his teeth and ran at Aizen, swinging the man's zanpakuto with all the strength he could muster from his body's current state. He swung the sword down hard on his enemy, but as it seems, even that wasn't enough to even scratch him. As the attack dropped close to Aizen, he lifted his left hand and stopped the naked blade without any effort or difficulty. Ichigo had originally aimed his blow to cut down into the man's left shoulder that which the zanpakuto was not able to touch. The former 5th Division Captain's stare showed no emotion, a contrast to the substitute shinigami's gaze that was currently decorated with frustration.

"Damn you," Ichigo swore.

"Where was your intent to kill in that attack, Ichigo?" Aizen asked. "You will not be able to inflict any damage on me unless you put some feeling behind your attacks."

Aizen let go of his grip on the blade and dropped his hand down at his side again. Ichigo stepped back, holding the zanpakuto with both hands on the hilt in front of him. He kept his focus on the traitor standing before him; his gaze was unwavering.

"Come at me," Aizen ordered the boy.

Ichigo tightly gripped the zanpakuto's green-colored hilt as he readied the blade and once again pointed it at the man ahead of him. He was going to try something else; just a normal attack wasn't going to do it. Aizen would just block it with ease if he tried hitting him directly. Then again, he doubted if he could even use a spiritual attack with a zanpakuto that he wasn't familiar with. He didn't want to fight Aizen because he knew well enough that he was no match for him. The boy just needed to slow him down so he could get away.

"Szayel," Ichigo thought as he took his offensive stance, "you better not betray me, you bastard."

And without another thought, Ichigo charged at Aizen again with the man's soul slayer still in his hands. He came close enough for a direct attack, which Aizen prepared to block an attack that would come at him within one short second. Ichigo did not swing down the blade, however, instead as he took his last step forward, he disappeared into thin air only to appear several feet behind his opponent. He faked out his attack with a flash step.

Aizen realized this immediately and he zipped around to look behind him. He turned to see that Ichigo had already begun to run for it as fast as he could, just as he planned from the beginning. The former captain frowned and followed after the boy. It wouldn't take long for him to catch up, and they both knew that. Aizen was in top form, and much to his own displeasure, Ichigo wasn't. Even if he was completely healed, Ichigo still wouldn't be able to beat the man in a flash step race across Las Noches. That's why he had to come up with something quick or else he's a dead man.

"Dammit, what am I supposed to do?" He said out loud in anger.

"Just give it up," a voice told him.

Ichigo turned in the direction of the voice, his gaze falling on the brown-haired villain who was now running alongside him. His eyes widened in surprise to see the man had caught up to him so quickly. A bright light flashed from the captain's right hand and it flew toward the shinigami boy's body, hitting him with great intensity. Ichigo was knocked off his feet and flung against the wall behind him. His back hit the wall first and he hit it hard. The pull of gravity knocked the boy down fast and he landed face first on the floor beneath him. Kyoka Suigetsu landed on the ground next to the substitute shinigami with a loud "clang" that echoed into the empty hall. Ichigo didn't attempt to reach his arm out and retrieve it.

He laid there in the exact same position as when he fell. The boy's ears picked up the sound of Aizen's footsteps coming back to him and he tried to look in that direction from the floor. His movement had ceased now as he stood directly in front of the fallen shinigami. Ichigo looked up at the man's face that was now staring down at his, but he didn't say anything.

It was Aizen who spoke first. His voice was constant as he talked.

"Who was it that allowed you to leave?"

Ichigo didn't answer him. Aizen tried a different approach to get the information he wanted.

"Give me a name and I'll let you off easy. I'll forget that you ever tried to come at me with my zanpakuto. Well?"

"Fuck you," the shinigami representative shot at him.

The ex-captain frowned.

"Then let me ask you something else," he said with a calm voice.

Ichigo pushed his hands against the floor to lift his body up slowly.

"How long to you plan to keep this up?" Aizen asked. "You can't continue to resist me forever."

"Why would I do something as stupid as that?" Ichigo asked him in return.

"Because you continue carry those feelings inside of you, feelings that you try to hide even from yourself."

"The only feeling I hold for someone like you is hatred."

"Then it must have been hard on you when you realized the truth."

"You know nothing about me."

"Do you remember the day I gave you those clothes?" Aizen asked and pointed at Ichigo's white robes.

Ichigo glanced down at his body for one second before returning his gaze on the man.

"You talked to me about your family and your life in the real world as if I was a friend."

"I didn't."

"It's quite clear what you did. There was also that next day when you walked beside me without me even having to ask. That was the day you wore those clothes for the first time."

"No."

"For a second you forgot all about your ties with Soul Society as you were offered the white uniform. You know in your heart what your true color is, but you don't want to betray your friends or the shinigami. Let me tell you, Ichigo, you won't be betraying anyone. All this fighting is pointless."

Ichigo didn't speak at first. He sat with his back against the wall and his stare down at his feet. The boy looked directly into Aizen's brown eyes and replied,

"None of my fights are meaningless."

Right on cue, an object that looked very much like a bomb dropped in out of nowhere between the two men. The object in question, however, didn't explode. Instead, it emitted a thick white smoke that quickly spread throughout the hall they stood in. A voice called Ichigo's name and the boy got up to his feet.

"Who's there?" the boy looked around him.

He felt a tug on his sleeve and almost leapt up in the air. The teenager turned to see the face of his temporary comrade, Szayel Aporro, and felt some relief knowing he was back.

"I hope I wasn't intruding on anything, Kurosaki. We have to get moving."

Ichigo just nodded in response and did his best to follow the arrancar through the smoke. Once it was safe and they were out of the hallway, the boy immediately noticed that Szayel Aporro was carrying Zangetsu on his back. _So he was telling the truth about it being hidden in Aizen's room._ The two companions ran down the next corridor, Szayel Aporro taking the lead and Ichigo following behind him.

Ichigo had to ask, "What the hell was that thing?"

"Oh, that smoke bomb? It's nothing. I've got plenty of them back in storage."

"And so you just carry stuff like that around all the time?"

"Why?" Szayel Aporro shot an angry glance at the boy behind him.

"By the way, did you actually stop Aizen from chasing us with that?"

"Probably not, it's not like he can't track out reitsu."

"But his zanpakuto is back there so maybe he did stay back."

"One can only hope."

"Well let's just keep running just in case."

"I agree," the 8th Espada replied and they continued to run at a steady pace without rest.

- - -

They had reached the end of the hall. It was the very hall Ichigo had visited three times in the past, and this would be marked down as his fourth. A chill crept through the boy's body as his eyes met with the double black doors against the white wall.

"We should turn back," he said to the pink-haired arrancar.

"Why's that? You of all people shouldn't fear this place like most of us would."

"I was told not to go back in there."

"And by whom? By Aizen? Since when did you follow his orders, Kurosaki?"

"I don't follow his orders," Ichigo stated clearly. "But I don't feel like getting myself killed again. That bastard The Executioner might actually kill me off for good on our next meeting."

"You only die once, Kurosaki. Everyone knows that."

"What are you saying?"

"You never realized? It never even dawned on you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Aizen probably told you that he created the Nightmare Room as a tool for killing his subordinates, didn't he? Well, I can say with certainty that it wasn't entirely true. Aizen didn't create the room just for the sole purpose of killing. He made it as an experiment to active eternal life."

Ichigo was in shock, "You mean...he wanted to be...immortal?"

"That's right. He's been sending in arrancar as test subjects. Once the first two or three did not accomplish the task, he just decided to set it as an execution method. He began to think such a state as eternal life through this method was impossible to achieve."

"Until I came along," Ichigo finished his idea.

"You were the only one to ever make it out of that room alive. You defeated death with your own hands, Ichigo. You are immortal."

"You...but how do you know all this?"

"I'm in charge of research so it would only be natural that I would be the caretaker of this room. Besides all that, I'm also the messenger for the master of the Nightmare Room, The Executioner."

Ichigo swallowed.

"He specifically told me this morning to bring you back to this room with sword in hand and that it was time you come back."

"So it was him who told you where Zangetsu was."

"No, it wasn't him. The Executioner does not have access to such information. That was a good guess though."

"Then I guess there's no way you're going to let me leave without going into that fucked up room first."

"Well, yes that's true. But that doesn't make you lose your trust in me does it? You go in and I'll be waiting right outside if anything arises."

"I never said that I was going into the room."

"Quite frankly, Kurosaki, you don't have a choice."

Szayel Aporro removed the boy's zanpakuto from his back and tossed it toward him. Ichigo caught it by the cloth-covered handle and looked back at the arrancar.

"You have a contract that must be fulfilled with The Executioner. Who knows what could happen to you if you dropped out now."

Ichigo slipped his zanpakuto onto his back and sighed.

"I guess there's no point in not finishing what I've already started. But I never agreed to this, Szayel."

"If it's Aizen you're worried about, don't worry. This was all my doing, which of course wouldn't be a lie. You just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Ichigo smiled, but just barely. He looked ahead and marched down to the doors at the end of the hall. He placed his hand on the cool black metal of the door handle and twisted it. The boy walked forward as the darkness soon engulfed him and he disappeared from Szayel Aporro's vision before the black door closed behind him.

---

Holy crap. I've written this entire chapter basically in the last few hours. I was on a roll and I wanted to get it up today. I'm going car shopping tomorrow, so no writing time. Speaking of, I will say for sure that the next chapter is going to be the longest chapter for this entire story. It's one of the major events that I've been planning for this story ever since it began. Fighting, fighting, fighting, and more fighting! Give me a week and a half or so and you'll be reading the big battles chapter.


	17. The Executioner's Judgement

**Title: **The Strongest Color

**Chapter Seventeen: **The Executioner's Judgement

**Pairing/Characters: **Aizen/Ichigo, Hollow Ichigo, Szayel Aporro

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

---

Ichigo moved farther into the black void that was so commonly referred to as "The Nightmare Room," but it wasn't without exerting any caution toward what might come out its depths during his second visit inside. The room was just as he remembered it, and the stench of rotted corpses was just as strong as ever. He ignored it for now as he continued to walk farther into the endless darkness.

Soon enough, a voice called to him. However, Ichigo did not recognize it to be The Executioner's deep, distorted voice tone. No, the voice was too calm and not nearly as deep as his. He turned around, looking about the room for the source of the voice, but even that did not take long. Directly behind him stood the man he was looking for.

"Welcome back, partner," the white version of himself greeted with a devilish grin on his lips.

"You," Ichigo spoke harshly to the hollow in front of him. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Who knows? Maybe I've come back to kill you and take from you what is rightly mine."

The hollow Ichigo laughed.

"Disappear."

The laughing ceased and the duplicate stared back at the boy.

"What was that?" he asked.

"You . . . I want you to just DISAPPEAR!"

Ichigo yelled at the white figure and pulled Zangetsu from his back. He ran at him and swung the blade down on his enemy with all his strength and anger. A huge diagonal gash across his chest was made across the hollow Ichigo's flesh. Crimson blood poured out through the opening in his skin and instantly stained the white shinigami robes he garbed himself in. Ichigo returned his zanpakuto to its bandaged-covered form and clipped it on his back. He glared at the hollow as he then dropped to his knees before him, the blood draining from him and forming a pool of the red liquid between them. The hollow's breathing was erratic; it seemed possible that one of his organs might have been punctured by accident.

Ichigo was not the least bit sympathetic.

"It's too bad, hollow. Too bad that I'll never give you the satisfaction of defeating me."

"It's not over, partner. It will never be over. I'm as much a part of you as that zanpakuto on your back."

Ichigo squinted his eyes slightly.

"I'll always be here. I'll always be lying in wait inside of you waiting for the day when your own fear consumes you again."

"Then I will live without fear." Ichigo said. "For the rest of my days, no matter how long that may be."

"Tch," The hollow frowned in response to his words.

"It's over."

"For now."

His opponent's body dispersed into the darkness, leaving nothing behind as he left the substitute shinigami's sight. The room grew still and quiet as it had been before. Ichigo didn't move immediately, he continued to stare down at the empty space where the white Ichigo's presence was just seconds ago. It didn't take long for the silence to be broken again. This time it was The Executioner that spoke to him, his voice ringing inside the boy's mind.

"_You did well for defeating him so quickly, shinigami. I'm impressed."_

"Your name is The Executioner, isn't it?" Ichigo asked.

"_Yes. I take it you have been informed about this place since we last met."_

"Yeah, the one who originally created this room told me everything."

"_And by Sousuke Aizen no less."_

"Is there any particular reason why I was chosen? Or was my arrival here in this room purely coincidental?"

"_Not once have I chosen any of my victims._ _Why would I start now?"_

"Then someone told you about me," Ichigo guessed. "I want to know who was it? Was it Szayel?"

"_Szayel is merely my caretaker, and I can say with certainty he would not recommend any potential victims to me."_

"Then who was it?"

"_Let me ask you, have you made any enemies during your stay here in Hueco Mundo?"_

"Well . . . " Ichigo thought back over the past events that took place over the last days. "There is one I'm certain of. That bastard called Grimmjow had something against me."

"_No, he wasn't the one. You were very close. But even so, I do not have the time to wait for you to guess. You have a contract to fulfill, shinigami_._"_

"Szayel said something like that. What am I supposed to do anyway?"

"_The only thing you need to do is try not to resist."_

"What?" Ichigo looked confused.

Suddenly, the boy was knocked off his feet and was pushed back three feet from where he stood. He felt a strange sensation during the impact, something hit him and crawled inside of him. Ichigo tried to stand back up, only to realize that he couldn't see or feel his legs. He panicked and began screaming. Slowly, he saw the rest of his body was going too. Soon even his lower torso was gone from his sight.

"Stop! Stop!" he yelled in an effort to try to cease the removal of his body.

"_Relax, shinigami. Your body is still intact. Now just calm down and let me take your body."_

"No fuckin' way! What the hell are you going to do?"

"_You'll see."_ The Executioner laughed. _"Oh, you'll see soon enough."_

All Ichigo could do was sit back and watch as the remainder of his body left his sight. And in under a minute, there was nothing left.

- - -

Szayel Aporro leaned his back against the wall, his arms folded over his chest. He glanced again toward the black door at the end of the hall. The 8th Espada couldn't help but worry about the shinigami representative.

"Was it really okay to take him back to that place?" he wondered, questioning his actions.

A scream escaped from the Nightmare Room; the sound of it sent chills down Szayel Aporro's spine. It was Ichigo. It had to be.

"What the hell is going on in there?"

And immediately after the scream ceased ringing in the arrancar's ears, the area was dead silent. Szayel Aporro didn't know what he feared more, the scream or the silence. He pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on and stood still with his focus on the black door ahead. The dreadful silence hung in the air for what seemed like forever, and not once did Szayel Aporro even dare to twitch a finger in fear of disturbing the soundless atmosphere.

Without any warning, the black-colored stone door was blasted off its hinges by a strong force somewhere inside the endless darkness of the room beyond it. The 8th Espada watched wide-eyed in surprise as a human-shaped figure stepped from the black room into the white hallway.

"No . . . " Szayel Aporro muttered. His entire body trembled uncontrollably. "Ichigo . . . ? What . . . w-what . . . "

"_Szayel Aporro," _the figure said his name.

"No . . . not Ichigo," the arrancar realized. There is only one person he knew that spoke in such a distorted tone of voice. "It's you . . . Executioner!"

A smile formed on the face of Ichigo's possessed body, which looked like an outline of what his body figure would be and the inside of the outline was filled with the darkest black imaginable. You could make out his hair, eyes, folds in his clothes, and all of that, but that was the only way you could distinguish who he really was, Substitute Shinigami Ichigo Kurosaki.

"_Don't look so surprised, Szayel. You should have at least expected this to happen eventually. I've finally achieved creating an immortal vessel that will allow me to carry out my actions against this scum infested hollow world._"

"You think killing everyone you find unfit to live is your way of maintaining fear and order?" Szayel Aporro asked, disgusted at the thought.

"_Don't even begin to lecture me about what's right and what's wrong when it comes to killing. You yourself carry blood that will be forever stained forever on your hands. You have killed several of your own in order to sustain your own life and all without giving it a second thought._ _I want to purge this world of the weak for they do not deserve to live. You agree with me don't you Szayel?"_

The pink-haired arrancar did not reply.

"_Don't act righteous. It's not at all like you. I'm granting Hueco Mundo with an assured victory in the winter war. All those weaklings would only be wiped out in an instant by the Gods of Death, the shinigami. The only difference in being rid of them now is that they will meet their end sooner, because their death is inevitable. That is the truth in every battle we fight, the strongest will always conquer over the weak."_

"If that's how you feel then I can't allow you to pass," Szayel Aporro said, pulling his zanpakuto from its sheath. "It's true, I have killed many of my subordinates in order to restore my health, but even so it is my duty as an Espada to stop any opposing forces against Aizen-sama and his goals. Besides all that . . . "

Szayel Aporro lifted his blade and planted his feet to the floor in his fighting stance.

"I will never forgive you for taking the life of my older brother!" He yelled in anger at The Executioner.

The possessed Ichigo grabbed the hilt of Zangetsu and leapt at Szayel Aporro. He attacked and the arrancar blocked, and so they stood with both of their blades pushing against each other. The sound of metal against metal the only sound they made. The 8th Espada could not hold him much longer, and he jumped a safe distance away from The Executioner and Ichigo's zanpakuto.

The Executioner watched him from that distance and without any words or expression to give to him. Szayel Aporro swallowed and tightened his grip on his zanpakuto. Before he knew it, he was running at the black-colored Ichigo yelling and readying his weapon for an attack against his opponent. His blade did not make contact with the boy's body, however, he had fallen to the ground before he could even swing, he was cut down by his enemy's blade in an instant.

Szayel Aporro coughed up blood on the floor and his breathing became heavy. He did not want to look down at the wound he received. It hurt like fuckin' hell, more pain than he's ever experienced before in all his life. His gaze only moved toward the Executioner standing above him, an evident frown on his face. The arrancar's vision was fading and he could no longer concentrate on the boy's figure.

"I'm sorry, Ilfort . . . " he muttered as his eyes closed.

His head dropped into the pool of his own blood and he was out cold. There was no strength left in him to stay conscious.

The Executioner spit on his body. _"Die and go to hell, your precious brother_ _is waiting for you there."_

He walked away from Szayel Aporro's body, the left half of his abdomen was ripped open by the blade's contact to his body and blood poured from the wound to the floor like a rushing stream of water. He would die there in minutes if no help would come. But there was no arrancar, no Espada, nobody around the area to save him. His death was assured, and that fact was what had The Executioner leaving him with a smile.

After all, he was just one of many he had found weak and unworthy to live.

---

This was not supposed to be the whole seventeenth chapter, but of course shit happened. My allergies came back and they were really severe this time around too, and of course it is next to impossible to try to think much less write in my condition. I am so very very sorry about this. I did not whine about the above to make anyone feel sorry for me, because really I'd rather you don't.

I just wanted to get something up before the people at Livejournal start throwing a fit. You guys at though, I love you guys! Just as long as the chapter is up you are content and that's what I really enjoy.


	18. Disappearing Act

**Title: **The Strongest Color

**Chapter Eighteen: **Disappearing Act

**Pairing/Characters: **Aizen/Ichigo, Noitora, Tesla, Kisuke, Isshin

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

---

Noitora stopped in his steps the second he felt the disturbance. His subordinate, Tesla, stopped a couple steps ahead of him and turned around to instinctively ask,

"What is it, Noitora-sama?"

"Somebody took down Szayel," Noitora answered with a surprisingly calm tone for such bad news. "Just a second ago, his life force dropped so drastically, and how I can barely sense it."

"Who could it be, do you think?"

"Tch, who cares? Maybe it's that crazy kid that punched Grimmjow the other day. I forgot what his name was." Noitora obviously didn't seem to care either way.

"Do you think we should check it out anyway?" Tesla asked.

"Didn't you hear me before, Tesla? I don't give a fuck about it. Besides, what has Szayel ever done for me that I should save his sorry hide. He can just die. The world will go on without him."

Tesla didn't say anything, so Noitora just left the subject at that and continued on his way with his subordinate following close behind.

They walked the halls of Las Noches for several minutes without one word spoken to each other. Noitora led the way as usual with Tesla just two steps behind him. When the 5th Espada stopped abruptly for the second time, Tesla halted just a second after him. This time he did not speak up. He himself knew because he could feel a terrifying presence of something moving toward them. The arrancar looked at his master who was standing firm and unaffected, ready for whatever what was going to turn the corner toward them.

It was a figure in black that approached them. Tesla did not recognize it since he had never seen someone with such a strange appearance as this person before them. At least he thought it was a man, he had the shape of a human, but then again he didn't look it.

"Do you think he's the one who killed Szayel Aporro?" Tesla asked his master.

"We'll see," Noitora replied.

The black figure advanced closer to the two arrancar, his hands shoved in his pockets, which made it look unlikely that he planned to assault them.

"Don't interfere, Tesla." Noitora ordered his subordinate. "This guy is mine."

"Yes, Noitora-sama," Tesla replied and took three steps back.

The dark figure just kept on moving toward them as if he didn't even notice their presence.

"Hey," Noitora spoke to him. "Where do you think you're going in such a hurry?"

The Executioner stopped in his tracks, glancing at Noitora for the first time.

"Why don't you stay and play a while? I can't make any promises though. I might accidentally kill you."

"_I will gain nothing from fighting you," _The Executioner shot at him. _"I wouldn't be worried about you killing me, but that I might accidentally kill you."_

"Cocky little bastard," Noitora muttered with a frown.

He threw a punch at the figure's face. However, his opponent was instantly able to catch it with his hand. The possessed Ichigo knocked the 5th Espada down to the floor with one swift movement of his arm. Tesla only watched from the sidelines, as he gave his word that he wouldn't interfere with his fight.

Noitora got back on his feet. He was hardly even damaged from the fall, only sustained minor scrapes across his face.

"You think you're going to go easy on me, huh?"

"_I wouldn't dream of it," _the Executioner replied almost sarcastically.

Noitora frowned, balling his right hand into a fist. He lifted his arm back and lunged at the black figure with his second attack against him. The Executioner prepared to block it yet again as he raised his hand before the Espada's own. This time, however, Noitora grabbed hold of his opponent's hand that was ready to block his fake assault. The arrancar's face moved closer to that of the Executioner's and he sneered.

"Never underestimate an Espada, boy!"

Noitora opened his mouth, revealing his long tattooed tongue. A familiar red glow began to emit from it as he prepared to fire a Cero aimed directly for his enemy's face. Strangely, the possessed Ichigo did not so much as flinch even in the face of such a powerful attack directed toward him.

It was just at this moment when Noitora noticed a weird change in the figure's eyes. The iris of both of his eyes became colored the darkest shade of black, but only for an instant. The 5th Espada blinked, wondering if he had imagined it and his mind was playing tricks on him. Whatever, it won't matter in the next few seconds. The little punk wasn't going to have any eyes left after this.

The black-haired arrancar released his Cero onto his enemy, who was still motionless standing in front of him. The red blast of energy headed directly toward him, and at such close range it would be impossible to avoid it. Noitora jumped away just as the attack made contact with the black figure. It destroyed everything in its path including the wall, which crumbled from the impressive force. A cloud of dust from the debris filled the air around where the Executioner once stood just moments ago. However, there was no sign of movement or any noise to indicate that he was still breathing.

The dust quickly dispersed, and Noitora along with Tesla gazed with great interest at the floor near the broken wall for a body or even a limb they would know to be the enemy's. There looked as if there was nothing of the sort amongst the pile of rubble, as they soon realized. No blood and no body. It was like no one was there from the start!

"Where the hell did he go?" Noitora turned his head frantically to look down the hall. "It's not like he could just disappear at will! I saw him! I saw the bastard just as my Cero hit him!"

The Espada turned to Tesla in a rage.

"Where is he, Tesla?!"

"Noitora-sama," his fraccion began, "this was a trick. The real man was more than likely never even here!"

- - -

A cold breeze swept through the night air as Kisuke Urahara stood like a statue in front of his shop with his hands folded across his chest. His gaze was completely focused on the starlit sky above him as he was deep in thought. They were both soon broken once he realized the presence of another walking in the direction of his shop. Kisuke saw the man step into view, and he didn't seem at all surprised to see the shopkeeper outside. The former 12th Division Captain let his arms fall from his chest and he placed his right palm on the top of his hat.

"I didn't expect you to come all the way out here to visit me," Kisuke told his guest. "Then again, recent events have been centered around your son after all."

"That's what it seems like," his visitor, Isshin Kurosaki, sighed.

The man stood before Kisuke in shinigami attire, and that enough was a sign to him that Isshin was taking this matter seriously.

"Let's continue this conversation inside, shall we?" Kisuke motioned toward the doors to the Urahara shop.

Isshin only nodded and followed the shinigami inside. Kisuke lead him into the very back of the shop to a small room. The shopkeeper allowed Isshin to take a seat in the room before he himself sat down straight across from him.

"You must have come to the conclusion that Ichigo did not depart to Hueco Mundo of his own accord; otherwise you and I would not be here," Kisuke said right off the bat.

"It's quite obvious to realize," Ichigo's father replied. "The presence of an arrancar's spiritual pressure suddenly just disappears at the exact same time as Ichigo's was my first warning. What really sealed the deal was when two strangers, people I immediately felt were the shinigami stationed here by Soul Society's orders, drag his body home with a story about him passing out as he was walking home from school. No, I am no fool. The puzzle's solution was simple to recognize once I analyzed the pieces to it."

"I completely agree," Kisuke stated. "However, there is still once piece that we are missing. Aizen's motive."

"I have come to several conclusions about that. No matter what angle you look at it though, I am the indirect cause of all this." Isshin frowned.

"Considering your status, it would be strange if you weren't somehow connected to this. None of this is your fault though, you can't help what your true identity is."

"That's got some truth to it. In a way I thought that keeping my children in the dark about it might save them from some hardships that will come from it. Looks like I was wrong."

"You did what you thought was right. If it was me, I would have done the same."

"Still, what would they say if I told them the truth? I wanted them to live in ignorance of the truth. I would have to come out and tell them that their whole life is a lie, and I don't have the will to do that, Urahara."

"But you owe Ichigo the truth, there would be no better time to tell him than right now."

There was a long pause before Isshin finally gave him his decision.

"There's no way around it then," he sighed and stood up. "I'm going to Hueco Mundo."

---

I AM NO LONGER DEAD!!


	19. The Hero's Return

**Title: **The Strongest Color

**Chapter Nineteen: **The Hero's Return

**Pairing/Characters: **Aizen/Ichigo, Noitora, Tesla, Loly, Menoly, Lilinet, Stark

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

---

"Never underestimate an Espada, boy!"

Noitora sneered at the Executioner, his face now only inches away from his captive. He did not try to fight against the arrancar's grip, nor did he want to. He still had another trick up his sleeve, his trump card essentially. He just had to wait for an opening. The Executioner watched in silence as the 5th Espada prepared his attack, a Cero. This was his chance. It was now or never.

The Executioner looked into the arrancar's eyes and captured his gaze. A moment later, he flash stepped out of range of the Cero. He turned to see Noitora completely under the illusion he had placed him under when their gazes had connected. Good. With that, his attention quickly changed to Tesla, who stood gaping at him some feet away. One flash step and he was standing in front of Noitora's fraccion, and he successfully captured his gaze that same second. After which, Tesla's eyes became blank as he was put under the same illusion. This left the possessed Ichigo with a two to three minute head start before it wore off, and by that time he would be long gone and hunting new prey.

"Sayonara," the Executioner said and turned away.

It was at that very moment that Noitora unleashed his attack on the nonexistent enemy he believed to be standing in front of him. The Executioner just kept on going without a glance over his shoulder. A wall crumbled somewhere behind him, and he knew that he had won this battle. His lips curled into a smile of insanity. He was unstoppable, and no one, especially not the Espada, can do a thing about it.

- - -

The Executioner's luck only increased as he continued through Las Noches. He had chanced upon three arrancar since he finished with Noitora and Tesla. They were so weak, none of them had even put up much of a fight as he killed them. Pathetic. Weak. Nothing could have disgusted him more.

He only hoped that his fifth and sixth victims would have more strength in them than the ones preceding them.

"No! Loly! Please stop! Loly!"

The Executioner frowned and turned to the blonde-haired arrancar that kept yelling at him. He stopped his attacks on the black-haired arrancar, and lifted the blade out from Loly's torso, her blood flowing freely from the fresh wound. Now his attention changed to that of the screaming girl just a couple paces away.

"Shut up," he ordered her.

But the girl continued to yell like she hadn't heard him. If there was one thing that he hated more than weaklings, it would certainly be people who ignore direct orders. The possessed Ichigo walked over to where she was laid out on the floor. He clenched the zanpakuto's hilt.

"I think I made myself clear," he said while raising the blade high, "when I told you to SHUT UP!"

He emphasized the last two words by stabbing his blade through her mouth and back out again in quick sequence. Menoly instinctively gasped for air and in doing so ended up choking on her own blood. But that alone was not enough for the Executioner.

"Rest easy," The Executioner told her with a calm voice, "your friend will die before you do."

The black figure made his way back over to Loly, who he had intended to kill first. He hoped that her loud mouthed friend would be watching, because he wanted it to be the last thing she ever sees before it was her turn to go.

One quick thrust was all it took to end it. He lowered his blade and stabbed through her heart, and that was it. The black-haired arrancar's lifeless eyes were staring back at her murderer once she breathed her last. The Executioner was proud of that. If nothing, she had looked death right in the eye until the end. Most people are not capable of this. She had strength in her, but it was a pity that she finally realized it when it was too late.

The Executioner glanced at the other girl. She too had died as she was incapable of breathing with all that blood running into her mouth. Such a fragile girl really, but then again most of the weak ones were that way. She couldn't even last long enough for him to mercifully deliver the final blow and end her painful suffering.

All in all, his time tormenting the two girls was regrettably short. He felt he no longer had the time to play with his victims before their deaths. Something just didn't feel right to him, and that was why he hoped to keep moving.

The Executioner left the two bodies untouched in their positions they assumed upon their deaths, and he immediately sprinted off down the hallway. After putting some distance between him and the them, he made a right turn and continued on his way down the second hallway. The lack of security or people seemed to unnerve him the more he thought about it and the farther he got into Las Noches. These halls should be swarming with arrancar that were out to get him. Not counting his victims plus Noitora and Tesla, there was no one else out here. Not a single person.

"What the hell is going on?" he thought. "Is this Aizen's doing? Did he order all the arrancar to stay put? That would be the only logical reason behind it. But then, why would he give such an order? Dammit, none of it makes any sense!"

The Executioner came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the hall. He could see just up ahead the figure of a young, female arrancar wandering around looking for someone. Suddenly, his worries ceased once he laid his eyes on her. His thoughts about it all drained away as he had his eyes set on his next victim. That was all that mattered now, whatever happens next will have to wait.

The Executioner gripped Ichigo's zanpakuto and ran towards the girl ahead with an intent to kill and a feeling of satisfaction. She turned as she heard him approach and a look pure terror was etched across her face. There wasn't anything she could do. The Executioner swung down his blade...

But his attack was not able to reach her. Before he knew it there was a man standing between them with his zanpakuto drawn, which he used to hold back Ichigo's sword. It was like a flash of lighting, one second there would be nothing and then the next it would appear without warning. The man appeared calm as he asked the Executioner,

"What kind of person would attack a little girl like that? Have you no pride?"

"I'm only fulfilling my duty to Aizen," the Executioner replied.

"As am I," the black-haired arrancar said.

"Stark," the girl spoke from behind him. "What do we do?"

"Lilinet, I'll hold this guy back and keep him here. In the meantime I want you to alert Aizen-sama and lead him back here."

Lilinet did not reply.

"Lilinet, I want your word. You must do what he instructed us to do in this situation. I'm more than capable of handling this guy on my own. Now go and don't waste any more time!"

"Yes, sir."

Lilinet turned away and ran down the hall leaving Stark and the Executioner behind her. With her gone, Stark gave his full attention to the enemy in front of him. He pushed against the black figure's zanpakuto with all his strength, trying to push him back. The Executioner responded with an equal amount of force against Stark's blade. The Espada clenched his teeth and tried pushing his blade with as much pressure as he could, and then he jumped away from his opponent, barely avoiding his sword as it fell. He raised his zanpakuto and charged at the black figure, aiming his attack somewhere along his mid-torso. The Executioner blocked it and responded with a hard kick to the gut. Stark fell backwards and the Executioner waited no time to land another attack on him. He stabbed his blade down toward the arrancar's chest, but before it could touch him, Stark rolled out of the way.

The arrancar got back to his feet and thrust his zanpakuto at his opponent. His attack grazed the left side of the Executioner's torso, leaving a shallow wound. Stark pulled back his blade and looked his enemy in the eye.

"I don't want to have to hurt the boy's body more than I need to," Stark said, eyeing the wound. "Let's call it a draw and save us both some pain."

"You admit that you were holding back against me," the Executioner began, "all because of this body I possess? And to add to it, you want me to settle to a draw? Never have I been so insulted."

"Forgive me for stepping on your pride so, but it isn't anything personal. Well, not toward you anyway."

"Can you believe this, shinigami? To think that someone like him would care about you!"

"What are you saying? Are you mad?"

"He can hear your every word, and mine as well. He is watching you at this very moment."

The Executioner paused.

"He is still inside of this body, it's just that he has no control," the Executioner flicked his wrist, "over his actions...or words."

"That makes sense, I guess."

"You guess?"

"Could you think me so naive as to not consider it, could you? I'm not as stupid as I look, that I can assure you."

"You're not going to do anything about it then?"

"Why should I? It is Ichigo's battle, and I am merely a bystander. I know he can fight it." Stark glanced at his opponent's sword hand. "Already he is weakening you."

Upon hearing these words, the Executioner looked down at his hand. It was no longer covered in black like the rest of his body. It was once again Ichigo's hand.

"No," the Executioner growled.

"He's stronger than you, Executioner. He's stronger than you'll ever hope to be." Stark smiled.

"No, I won't let you! This body is mine!"

The Executioner lifted his left hand, the only one he could control, and clawed at the air next to him. This action caused him to tear the dimensional fabric in the space creating a Garganta.

"What are you doing?" Stark yelled.

The Executioner smirked and made a motion toward the Garganta. But he didn't get a chance to step into it.

"Six Rod Light Restraint."

The Executioner quickly found himself restrained as six beams of light slammed into his midsection. He fought to get himself out, but nothing happened.

"You weren't thinking of leaving us now, Executioner. That would be quite tragic."

The Executioner looked up and his black eyes met with a pair of brown ones that could only belong to one person.

"Aizen," he said with disgust.

"Did Lilinet catch up with you, Aizen-sama? I sent her to bring you here."

"I'm afraid not, Stark. I just followed the reitsu that led me straight here...and not a moment too soon." Aizen stared at the possessed Ichigo.

"Your reign ends here," the former captain said and raised his hand, shooting a gust of invisible energy at the Executioner.

The energy hit him, and in doing so blew the black color from Ichigo's body, leaving only tiny patches of the substance on his clothes. Ichigo gasped for a large intake of breath just as it happened. He could feel it now. He had his body back; he was free from the Executioner's control.

The six light beams that bound him disappeared, and Ichigo could feel his body relax. His breathing was heavy and beads of sweat were running down the side of his face. After a couple seconds when he felt himself get under control, he look up at Stark. The arrancar smiled at him and gave him an assuring nod.

A hand fell on his shoulder and Ichigo's attention was then drawn to Aizen. The man stood next to him with his face devoid of emotion. Ichigo was not sure of his next move or what Aizen planned to do to him.

And he didn't plan on finding out.

He was a killer, a traitor, a monster, and more important, he had disobeyed Aizen. There was no way that he would be let him off after all that he'd done. He had to get out and find help.

Ichigo turned to the Garganta. This could be his one and only chance to escape and he wasn't about it waste.

The shinigami slapped Aizen's hand off his shoulder and made a mad dash for the tunnel. Before the tear closed behind him, he could hear Aizen's voice behind him, calling his name, and for a second Ichigo thought about turning right around and running back to him. That thought quickly vanished once he realized that there was no turning back. He was going to the real world; he was going home.

---

OMG I'm getting so bad at updating, it's terrible! Argh! I probably jumped around to quickly at times, I apologize. Hopefully it was still enjoyable. :)


	20. Karakura Town

**Title: **The Strongest Color

**Chapter Twenty: **Karakura Town

**Pairing/Characters: **Aizen/Ichigo, Ikkaku, Ulquiorra, Grimmjow

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

--

Traveling from Hueco Mundo to the human world proved to be more difficult than Ichigo had anticipated. The pathway that went through the black tunnel was unstable, and he had almost fallen off twice. At that point, however, Ichigo wasn't concerned with the path as much as he was about what would happen if Aizen or an arrancar were to catch up with him. But even so, the short trip through felt as if it had taken hours. Ever since the Executioner was forced out of the boy's body, everything had been moving in slow motion. As he traveled through the garganta, Ichigo felt as if he wasn't moving fast enough. His legs carried him as fast he they could, but it still felt as if he was moving much too slow. At any moment, the arrancar would be after him, and it would only be a matter of seconds before they eventually catch up with him.

And Ichigo wasn't going to let that happen.

He exited the garganta and took his first step into the human world without a problem. No one was chasing after him, and he was, for the moment, safe. For the first time since his escape, Ichigo gazed down at his body. What he saw was anything but pleasant. His white robes were covered in some sort of black substance, the stuff that covered his entire body while he was under the Executioner's control. Now though, it covered him in splatters, and if it wasn't for the color, he would look as if he was covered in blood. The thought of that alone made Ichigo nauseous. It wasn't his blood after all; it was his victim's. All of the arrancar that had been killed by the Executioner, their blood was now a mark upon his body. Even though he didn't actually murder them, it was still his fault that they were dead.

Ichigo was going to be punished and he knew it. Not only for that, but everything else that took place before the possession. He disobeyed Aizen by going to the Nightmare Room even though he had made it quite clear to stay away from it, he let Szayel rummage through Aizen's bedroom, and he stole not only his own zanpakuto, Zangetsu, but also Aizen's zanpakuto, Kyoka Suigetsu, from the former 5th Captain. Sure he had gotten away easily for his actions in the past, but not something as serious as this. Aizen was going to punish him. If he didn't receive the death penalty, it would be something equally as awful.

He wasn't planning on ever returning to Hueco Mundo. It's true that he wouldn't be able to run from Aizen and the arrancar forever, but at this point even delaying the inevitable seemed to be a better alternative than becoming their prisoner again. For that, he would have to take refuge in Soul Society. Ichigo only hoped that Soul Society would be willing take him in. The dream he had about the trial still weighed heavily on his mind. If the shinigami really believed him to be a traitor, then it was safe to assume that he was dead no matter where he ended up. Even so, there was still a greater chance that Soul Society would aid him because at this point, Hueco Mundo didn't hold much promise.

Ichigo's mind was already made up at this point, and he knew exactly what he wanted to do. He had to get in contact with one of the shinigami Soul Society stationed in Karakura Town. If that wasn't possible, he'd have to use Urahara's gate to travel to Soul Society. One way or another, he was going straight to the shinigami world. That was all he needed to focus on right now, afterwards he could worry about whether or not he was still friends with Soul Society.

Ichigo took off from the ground running with his mind focused completely on that one goal.

- - -

Several minutes after he had taken off, the shinigami representative began to notice the toll his run had put on his body. Already he was having trouble breathing and his legs felt as if they were about to give way any second. Ichigo had slowed down to a stop and bent over with his hands over his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

It felt as if he'd been running for hours. Of course, his body wasn't in the best of shape before he sprinted off for help either. The Executioner controlling his body, fighting to regain control of himself, and having the Executioner forcibly removed from his body altogether had caused a great deal of damage to him. And he was certainly feeling it.

"Dammit," Ichigo swore out loud and dropped down on his hands and knees.

He didn't know if he could get back on his feet and keep going. There was just no way he could keep going on like this; he just didn't have the stamina for it. But it was his stubbornness that pulled him back up on his feet and back on the road ahead. He wouldn't let himself drop out now; he just couldn't. Even if he had to drag his body the whole way there, he was going to Soul Society no matter what.

Ichigo had managed to travel across two more blocks before his legs began plaguing him with an unbearable pain.

"Just turn the corner up ahead," he told himself. "I should be able to get that far before I take another break."

The boy pushed himself forward with pure determination and dashed around the corner of the building at the end of the block. He came to an immediate stop then and glanced at his surroundings. When he looked straight ahead, however, Ichigo gasped. The person standing in front of him was none other than,

"Ikkaku!" Ichigo called.

Ikkaku looked absolutely thunderstruck as he took in the boy that stood before him.

"Ichigo!"

Ichigo couldn't help but smile at hearing Ikkaku call his name. However, it didn't look as if Ikkaku felt the same. The 11th Division shinigami had stopped in his tracks once he took a good look at the orange-haired boy. He looked at him with uncertainty and a hint of fear, like he was scared to take another step toward him. It was within a short moment that he finally spoke to the boy again.

"What the hell happened to you, Ichigo?"

Ichigo realized then what had caused Ikkaku's second thoughts about approaching him.

"It's kind of hard to explain," Ichigo began to say. "This person called the 'Executioner' took over my body, and when I broke away from his control these black patches were left on me."

"Did Aizen make you wear that outfit then?"

Ichigo nodded and a moment later he saw Ikkaku give a sigh of relief.

"You had me scared for a second, I thought you had turned bad."

"I didn't."

"I know that, but your appearance made me doubt it for a second."

"Ikkaku, listen to me." Ichigo said with all seriousness. "You have to get me out of here. The arrancar could be coming any second."

Ikkaku didn't respond, but his face grew pale.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Ichigo asked.

"You have to run, Ichigo." Ikkaku responded, and when Ichigo didn't move he yelled, "RUN ICHIGO!!"

Ichigo turned his head to look at what was behind him and when he did he suddenly found it hard to breathe again.

It was the arrancar.

The teenager turned back and began running away from where the arrancar had begun to step out of the garganta. He ran past Ikkaku and kept going. His whole body was shaking in fear even as he was running. Just fifteen seconds later he suddenly found himself hitting the pavement face first when someone had hit him from behind. Ikkaku shouted his name and began to run toward the boy, but he too was knocked down.

Ichigo began to push himself up off the ground, but a hard kick in the back had him eating the pavement again. A hand grabbed a hold of a chuck of his hair and lifted him up off the ground. Ichigo's brown eyes met with the unmistakable large, green eyes of his attacker.

"Goodbye, Ichigo Kurosaki," Ulquiorra said pointing his index finger above Ichigo's heart. "Your time has ended."

The green Cero began to form at the end of the Espada's finger. Ichigo glanced down at it and then back up at the impassive face of the arrancar holding him.

"Sorry, but I'm not ready to die yet," Ichigo said and grabbed hold of the arrancar's wrist and forced his hand away from his body.

The Cero was blasted off down the empty part of street and Ichigo took the chance to sucker punch Ulquiorra in the face. The 4th Espada released his grip from Ichigo's hair and stumbled backwards with his hand covering his nose. Ichigo jumped toward him, grabbed hold of both of Ulquiorra's shoulders, and pushed him down hard against the street. It took several seconds for Ulquiorra to recover, and he countered it by rolling Ichigo over so that his back was on the ground. Ichigo struggled from underneath the arrancar, but Ulquiorra's grip would not lessen.

"Hey! Ichigo!" Ikkaku yelled from some feet away. "Let go of him you bastard!"

Ichigo turned his head in the direction of his voice and saw the figure of Ikkaku running toward the two. Before he was able to help him though, a streak of white and blue came flying at him and knocked him off his feet.

"Grimmjow," muttered Ulquiorra.

Ichigo immediately recognized the figure standing before him as the arrancar that had attacked him back in Las Noches. The blue-haired Espada grinned evilly and landed another blow on Ikkaku.

"Ikkaku!" Ichigo screamed.

Ulquiorra put his hand over Ichigo's mouth and dug his fingers into the side of the boy's face. Ichigo stared up at him in anger as the arrancar began to speak to him.

"I don't know what Aizen-sama sees in you. You are nothing but trash, not even worthy enough to be in his presence. It sickens me."

There was a pause before he continued.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, tell me, do you love Aizen-sama?"

Ichigo stared at the 4th Espada in shock at his question. Ulquiorra released his hand from Ichigo's mouth to allow him a chance to answer. Ichigo didn't speak right away at first as he contemplating his answer. If he had been asked this question a week ago, the immediate answer would have been "no" plain and simple. After all that he had been through and everything that Aizen had done had begun to change his feelings in a way. He had been nothing, but kind ever since he had been taken to Las Noches. Most of all, he had saved him from the Executioner. Ichigo was touched by that. He never really thought about it until now.

"I'm waiting." Ulquiorra said impatiently.

Ichigo looked him in the eyes and gave him his answer.

"Yes."

"Then I have absolutely no choice," Ulquiorra said as he drew his blade from its sheath, "but to kill you."

- - -

Not an April Fools joke. Next chapter: The fight in Karakura Town continues!


	21. A Short Lived Reunion

**Title: **The Strongest Color

**Chapter Twenty-One: **A Short-Lived Reunion

**Pairing/Characters: **Aizen/Ichigo, Orihime/Ichigo, Ulquiorra, Grimmjow, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Toushiro, Rangiku, Rukia, Renji, Stark, Yammy, Zommari Leroux

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

--

Ichigo knew that he was going to be killed from the moment his eyes rested upon the shimmering blade held in Ulquiorra's hand. There was a murderous intent boiling inside of the 4th Espada as he gazed down at the shinigami representative with hatred-filled green eyes. The boy's confession wiped away all of the little tolerance he had for him. Ulquiorra pressed his zanpakuto against Ichigo's bare neck and applied enough pressure to allow a drop of blood to trickle down. Ichigo quickly spoke up before the arrancar was able to follow through with his death threat.

"W-Wait, Ulquiorra," he began, "at least tell me why you are doing this. Was Aizen the one who told you to kill me?"

Ulquiorra paused and released the force on his blade before he replied.

"I am doing this of my own free will; Aizen-sama does not wish to kill you."

"Then why the hell are you going to do this? I thought you devoted your life to doing whatever Aizen wants."

"That is true, I do follow all of Aizen-sama's orders. However, this one I have no choice but to disobey. I did not want to do this with my own hands, but since the Executioner was unsuccessful in killing you, I have no other choice."

"Wait a second," Ichigo interrupted. "How the hell did you know that the Executioner tried to kill me?"

"Because I am the one who set it up."

Ichigo was paralyzed in shock.

"But that makes no sense. You were the one who warned me about him and what was inside the room; you told me to stay away from it. Are you telling me it was all an act?"

"Yes, that is exactly what I am saying."

"YOU BASTARD!"

Ichigo screamed and used all his strength to slam Ulquiorra onto his back with his hands around the arrancar's throat. He clenched his teeth together in anger and unconsciously tightened his grip around Ulquiorra's neck.

"That was your plan all along, to send me to the Nightmare Room and kill me! Do you have any idea what I've been through, and how many people that have died because of this? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA?"

Ulquiorra choked as he tried to gasp for breath; Ichigo's hold was beginning to suffocate him. The 4th Espada tried to fight against it by forcing the boy's left hand off of his neck by the wrist. Ichigo acquiesced and released his grip from Ulquiorra's throat. Ulquiorra gasped for breath, but Ichigo didn't give him any sympathy. The substitute shinigami clenched his hand into a fist and punched the arrancar across his face. He pulled his arm back and hit him again. After that there was nothing stopping him, he just continued to land hits on Ulquiorra's face in rage.

An attack came unexpectedly from off in the distance. It hit Ichigo on his side and threw him down across the street fifty feet away from Ulquiorra. As Ichigo recovered from the blast, his eyes caught sight of his attacker. Grimmjow stood facing him from across the street, Ikkaku's bloody body lying in a heap next to him. Ichigo had, while in his anger, completely forgotten about the bald shinigami until now.

"Ikkaku! Hey Ikkaku!" Ichigo called out to him, but received no response.

"You're next, shinigami," the blue-haired arrancar said to Ichigo as he flash stepped to where the boy was lying on the pavement.

Ichigo rolled away, though he was not able to completely dodge Grimmjow's sword attack. The blade stabbed through the boy's left arm, just barely missing his heart. Ichigo laid still against the pavement as the arrancar pulled his zanpakuto out of him. Just as he did, the blood began flowing out of the wound trailing down into a puddle beneath Ichigo's body. Grimmjow leaned toward the substitute shinigami and smirked in satisfaction. His rough hand reached for him and grabbed a clump of the boy's orange hair. The 6th Espada pulled the boy up using his hair so that his face was right in front of his own.

"What's the matter, shinigami? Aren't you going to fight back this time?" Grimmjow taunted him. "You sure felt obligated to back in Las Noches. Is it because Aizen's not here to protect you? Huh, shinigami?"

"No," Ichigo spat. "That's got nothing to do with it."

Grimmjow released his hold on Ichigo's hair, and Ichigo dropped down to his knees on the street.

"Pathetic," Grimmjow muttered; however, he didn't care if Ichigo had heard it.

Ichigo had just begun to push himself up from the ground to take Grimmjow in a one-on-one fight just as another presence approached the area.

"Ichigo? Ichigo is that really you?" the voice asked.

The boy looked toward the direction of the voice, his eyes taking in the figure of Yumichika dressed in shinigami attire with his zanpakuto already drawn and clutched in his right hand. Yumichika took in the scene that he had just walked into. Just a few short seconds later he caught sight of Ikkaku, still in his gigai body, lying face down and beaten off to the side. Yumichika screamed his partner's name and began running to him without any conscious thought of his actions. Before he was able to reach him, Ulquiorra was up on his feet and in an instant he was standing between the unconscious Ikkaku and the concerned Yumichika.

"Get out of my way!" Yumichika yelled at the arrancar.

Ulquiorra vanished instantaneously and before Yumichika could react, he slashed through half of the shinigami's abdomen. Yumichika dropped down on his knees and placed his hand over the wound as the blood began to pour from it.

"Yumichika!" Ichigo called out to him.

"Finish him off now, Grimmjow," Ulquiorra ordered with his eyes focused on Ichigo. "We don't have any more time."

"I'm not taking orders from you," Grimmjow said with disgust to the 4th Espada.

Ulquiorra disappeared for a second and reappeared in front of Ichigo.

"Then allow me to deliver the final blow."

There was no escaping the next attack; Ulquiorra drew back his right hand ready to stab it through Ichigo's chest. Ichigo forced himself to shut his eyes before the blow struck him. He silently prayed that he would die of this hit quickly; he did not wish to die of blood loss on the street. He waited silently for the final blow to reach him.

"ICHIGO!!"

Ichigo's eyes shot open as he heard the ear-piercing scream from somewhere nearby. The first thing he saw was Ulquiorra's impassive face and his deadly hand, now moving closer toward Ichigo's body. The next thing he saw just a half a second later was the spiky, white-haired head of Toushiro in between him and Ulquiorra. The 10th Squad Captain had a grip tight on Ulquiorra's hand; he was able to stop it before it could pierce Ichigo.

"Toushiro," Ichigo spoke.

"It's Captain Hitsugaya," Toushiro replied, annoyed.

The 10th Captain drew his zanpakuto and at the same time let his grip go of Ulquiorra's hand. The same instant Ichigo heard a clash of swords just a couple feet away. He turned his head to see Rangiku and Grimmjow in the midst of battle. Toushiro did the same, and soon Ulquiorra and the boy captain were engaged in a battle up in the sky.

"Ichigo!"

Ichigo heard the same voice calling for him again, and this time he turned to see two familiar faces. Rukia and Renji were both running as fast as they could toward the boy. Ichigo felt some sort of comfort in seeing his friends after such a long time, and he could hardly contain the smile that had begun to form on his lips. He wasn't smiling for much longer after Rukia had approached him, however.

"Hey, Rukia," Ichigo greeted his friend.

Rukia's response was not so friendly. Once the female shinigami had reached Ichigo, the first thing she did was punch him across the face. This sudden aggressive behavior stunned Ichigo, and he yelled back at Rukia,

"What the hell was that for?"

"You're a selfish fool, Ichigo!" Rukia began. "How could you just leave all of us like that? You had us all worried sick! Especially Orihime. She hasn't eaten or slept decently since you left."

"What? Where is she now?"

"She's at her house as far as I know," Rukia stated. "But why should-"

Rukia's scolding was suddenly interrupted by Renji.

"H-Hey, when did you get here?"

Ichigo and Rukia turned their heads at Renji's question and caught sight of Orihime walking cautiously toward them.

"Kurosaki-kun," a smile formed on the girl's lips as she spoke his name.

"Hey," Ichigo replied and smiled back.

Orihime's cheeks turned red, and she quickly turned toward Rukia.

"I'm sorry I left the house. Toushiro and Rangiku told me to stay put when they felt the spiritual pressure, but I...I wanted to see if Kurosaki-kun was okay."

Rukia glanced at Ichigo with a look that said 'I told you so', and Ichigo inaudibly sighed.

"I'm sorry I made you guys worry," he glanced at Rukia and added, "Really I am."

Renji glanced toward Ikkaku and Yumichika from across the street and said,

"While Captain Hitsugaya and Matsumoto are keeping the arrancar occupied, we should take those two and get the hell out of here."

Ichigo nodded.

"Orihime, Ichigo," Rukia addressed the two humans, "you guys leave. Renji and I will catch up in a second."

"Right," Ichigo agreed. "Let's go."

Ichigo and Orihime began to run down the street in the opposite direction from where Ichigo had come from while Renji and Rukia took off toward Ikkaku and Yumichika. Ichigo and Orihime had only traveled half a block when several voices began shouting from behind them.

"It's Aizen!"

Ichigo felt like he was going to have a heart attack. Aizen was here. Aizen was in Karakura Town. He didn't believe it. No, he didn't want to believe it.

Ichigo alongside Orihime continued to run despite what they heard everyone calling out from behind them. It was within the very next moment that Aizen appeared in front of the two humans, forcing them to stop in their tracks. Ichigo could feel his heart beating hard against his chest as he took in the former 5th Squad Captain standing just feet away from him.

"What's wrong, Ichigo? You look terribly pale." Aizen said with his eyes completely focused on Ichigo. In fact, he hadn't so much as glanced at Orihime, who was standing next to Ichigo.

"Get away from him!" Renji's voice was heard yelling from somewhere behind them.

Ichigo didn't look over his shoulder; he didn't even move. Right now, the only thing he was concerned with was standing right in front of him. The boy stared at Aizen, by now he was slowing beginning to calm himself down, and spoke,

"If you're planning on killing me, Aizen, at least have enough decency not to do it in front of my friends."

"I thought we discussed this already, Ichigo. I'm not going to kill you."

"You won't, but you can sure as hell make someone else like Ulquiorra or Grimmjow to do it for you."

Aizen frowned, not looking very pleased with what Ichigo had told him.

"That was not what they were ordered to do," he replied.

"Well, that's just what happened," Ichigo said with anger.

There was a pause as Aizen studied Ichigo before he spoke to him.

"Let us return to Hueco Mundo, and we can sort this whole thing out."

Ichigo opened his mouth to speak, but before any words came out Orihime had jumped in between the two men.

"No, I won't let you!" she defiantly proclaimed.

"Orihime, please let me do this," Ichigo spoke to the girl.

"Kurosaki-kun..."

"I'll go with you," Ichigo said to Aizen. "Just call off your arrancar first."

Aizen smiled in satisfaction with the boy's answer.

"Of course."

He turned his attention to the first two arrancar, Grimmjow and Ulquiorra, along with the others that had arrived with him: Stark, Yammy, and Zommari Leroux.

"It's time for us to return," he ordered the Espada.

All five of the arrancar stopped in the middle of the fight along with the shinigami they were battling against. Everyone's eyes were fixed on Aizen at that point. Aizen ignored the stares and looked at Ichigo, who had now turned toward Orihime.

"Don't worry about me, Orihime. I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Ichigo quickly glanced at Aizen. "It's really not so bad."

Orihime smiled. "Okay."

Ichigo nodded and faced Aizen, who suddenly looked as if he was pleased with something.

"I'm ready."

Aizen nodded and with the tip of his finger ripped open a garganta. Ichigo stepped in with him along with the five Espada that had come to Karakura Town and together they returned to Hueco Mundo.

- - -

Heh, I _almost _had a heart attack when I wrote the OMG Aizen is back moment. This was a fun chapter to write, I really enjoyed it. The whole Ichigo/Orihime relationship will stay one-sided. You can breath now.

Next chapter: Back in Hueco Mundo, Aizen and Ichigo discuss what happened, etc.


	22. Father

**Title: **The Strongest Color

**Chapter Twenty-Two: **Father

**Pairing/Characters: **Aizen/Ichigo, Stark, Isshin

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

---

"Don't get the wrong idea. I don't have any intention of joining your side after this," Ichigo told Aizen once they entered the tunnel between the real world and Hueco Mundo. "The only reason that I am coming back is because I didn't want my friends getting hurt on my account. And also...I decided that I want to settle this thing with the Executioner and get myself back to normal."

Ichigo looked down at his body, which was still covered in the black substance left behind from the Executioner's control, as he spoke those last words. His gaze lifted back up to Aizen, who was considering the boy before he made his reply.

"If that's what you say," Aizen said, knowing that there was more to it than just that. He then faced the arrancar and said, "Let's go."

The ex-captain led the group forward along the path that would lead back to Hueco Mundo. Ichigo followed behind Aizen trying to keep up the pace they were moving at. Now that is adrenaline from before had long since worn off, his entire body hurt and moving around made it much worse. Even so, he did his best to mask his discomfort from Aizen and the arrancar. He didn't want them to believe that he was weak, especially not Ulquiorra or Grimmjow, who happened to be right behind Ichigo. This made the young shinigami uncomfortable so he tried to watch them in the corner of his eye every chance he got.

Once the group neared the end of the tunnel, Aizen turned to them and ordered the arrancar to move on ahead.

"I'd like to have a word later," he said specifically to Ulquiorra and Grimmjow.

"Yes, Aizen-sama," Ulquiorra replied.

"Tch," Grimmjow frowned.

After the last of the arrancar exited through the garganta, Aizen called for Ichigo to follow him. The young shinigami obeyed and followed silently behind the older man as they crossed back into Hueco Mundo, stepping out into one of the long, white hallways of Las Noches. Aizen approached a door on the left wall and opened it. He allowed Ichigo to go in first, and Ichigo recognized that the familiar bedroom was the same room he had stayed in since he was taken to Las Noches.

"Take a seat, Ichigo," Aizen said as he shut the door.

Ichigo did, seating himself on one end of the room's couch while Aizen sat on the other end.

"I want to know everything," Aizen told him. "Let's begin with the reason why you were with Szayel Aporro."

"He suddenly showed up in my room saying he would help me get my zanpakuto back," Ichigo replied. "So I went with him to retrieve it from your room."

"Did you go inside?"

"N-no!" Ichigo sputtered in embarrassment. "I told Szayel to go in and get it. There's no way I would have gone in."

"When I saw you outside my bedroom, I created an illusion of myself and sent it in your direction, however, I never thought you would be so bold as to actually attack me and take my zanpakuto."

"That's because I was trying to buy some time for Szayel. I knew that I wouldn't have been able to take you down anyway." Ichigo paused, thinking. "Szayel said that the Executioner had told him to bring me and my zanpakuto back to the Nightmare Room. I never wanted to go back there, but when I told him that he said I have a contract I must fulfill. If I didn't something then bad would happen."

"Something bad did happen." Aizen frowned. "Many of my arrancar died."

"That..." Ichigo began.

"Szayel was deceiving you, and he in turn was being deceived by the Executioner. The Executioner wanted nothing more than to use you as a vessel in order to carry out his justice."

Ichigo lowered his gaze from Aizen out of shame.

"I watched all of them die. I tried to stop him...but I was too damn weak to do anything!"

There was a moment of silence between the two. Aizen moved himself closer to Ichigo and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. Ichigo looked up and saw the older man was using his power to vanish the remaining splotches of the black substance from his body.

"You were saying before we returned that Ulquiorra and Grimmjow had tried to kill you." Aizen initiated the conversation again once he finished removing the black from Ichigo.

"Yeah, and they would have succeeded too if Toushiro and the others wouldn't have come when they did. Ulquiorra has been trying to get rid of me since the very beginning."

"There's a good reason for that."

"What is it?"

Aizen leaned his back against the back of the couch.

"He was jealous of you, jealous because I am in love with you and not him."

Ichigo's heart skipped a beat when he heard Aizen speak those words. He then replied,

"I didn't know Ulquiorra felt like that."

"I told him twice in the past that it wasn't mutual and yet he still holds those feelings."

Aizen looked at Ichigo and said, "I think we're through talking now. Someone should be coming over soon to heal your injuries."

The ex-captain stood up from the couch.

"I have some things to take care of. Make sure you rest before I return." He left without another word, closing the door silently behind him.

Ichigo had completely forgotten about his current physical state during the time he'd been talking to Aizen, so the order was one that he had no trouble following. The young shinigami didn't even wait for the healer to come by before he had stretched himself out on the couch and drifted off into sleep.

- - -

When Ichigo slowly woke from his dreamless sleep, he noticed that sometime during his nap he had been moved off the couch to his bed. As he stirred under the sheets, he heard a familiar voice speak to him from across the room.

"Looks like you finally woke up," Stark said from his spot on the couch, looking as if he had just woken up from a nap just a while ago as well.

Ichigo groaned as he lifted his body up into a sitting position on the bed. The boy realized as he looked down at his bandaged body that the healer had already come by to tend to his wounds.

"How are you feeling, kid?" Stark asked.

"Better," Ichigo replied. "I've got a terrible headache though."

"I suppose that can't be helped." Stark dug in his pocket for something. "Here," he said and tossed a small bottle to Ichigo.

Ichigo caught it with his right hand and saw that the bottle was filled with a blue-colored liquid. He looked up at Stark. "What is this?"

"Drink it. It'll help with that headache of yours."

Ichigo looked down at the bottle and unscrewed the cap. He lifted it to his lips and downed the liquid in one gulp.

"Ugh, that's terrible," he choked and set the bottle on the night stand.

"Aizen said he wants you to come by to see him once you woke up," Stark told him. "But if you want to stay here and rest some more I suppose we could do that too."

"No," Ichigo said as he stepped down from the bed. "I'm going to go see him."

Stark stood up from the couch and grabbed Ichigo's shirt.

"Here," he said. "You might want to put this on before we go. Your shoes are sitting by your bed."

"Thanks," Ichigo replied and took the shirt from Stark's outstretched hand.

Once the boy had put the shirt on and slipped the shoes on his feet, Stark walked over to the door.

"Follow me," he said, leading the way.

Ichigo walked behind the Espada and for a time it was silent between the two of them before Stark spoke to him again.

"You're not in any trouble if that's what you're thinking," the Primera Espada told him. "It's just that...something unexpected happened after you left Hueco Mundo."

"What?" he asked.

"I'm afraid it's not my place to tell you. You'll just have to see when we get there."

Now Ichigo was curious. What could have happened while he had escaped to Karakura Town? He began to think the worst as images of the Executioner and dead arrancar filled his mind.

"Here we are," Stark said as he approached their destination.

Ichigo shook those images from his head as he followed Stark to the door. The young shinigami placed his hand on the doorknob, but before he could open it, Stark placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't go in looking so worried," he said. "It'll only make things worse between those two if you go in looking anxious like that."

"What are you talking about?" Ichigo asked him.

"Never mind, just go in."

Ichigo turned the knob slowly and pushed the door open, his heart pounding hard against his chest. What he saw as he looked in the room made his heart stop for a second and he could do nothing more but stand there with his mouth open in shock.

"Dad?" Ichigo spoke. "Dad, what are doing here?"

The black-haired shinigami stood up from his chair and turned to his son.

"Come here, Ichigo," Isshin said.

Ichigo did so, and once he got close enough to his father, Isshin hit him with a drop kick. Ichigo hit the ground, the blow taking him so unexpectedly he didn't dodge.

"What the hell is wrong with you old man?!" Ichigo yelled.

"You let your guard down," the man said.

"Why you..."

Ichigo stood back up, and suddenly he realized the presence of the other man in the room with them. His eyes met with Aizen's for a moment before Isshin stood between the two of them.

"We've got something to talk about, Ichigo," Isshin said, as he took on a serious tone.

"What's this all about?" Ichigo asked.

"Sit down, Ichigo," Isshin ordered with his parental authority.

The young shinigami obeyed, sitting down in the chair next to his father's. Once Isshin sat down, Ichigo asked again,

"Is someone going to tell me what the hell is going on here? Dad...you're a shinigami?!"

"If you'll give me some time, I'll be able to tell you everything," Isshin replied.

"So," Ichigo looked back and forth between his father and Aizen, "You two know each other?"

"He'd been my friend for a number of years back when we were both in the Thirteen Court Guard Squads," Aizen replied to Ichigo's question.

"That was the biggest mistake I'd ever made in my life," Isshin said with a frown.

"What's all this got to do with me?" Ichigo asked them.

"It's got everything to do with you. I'm sure Sosuke here can tell you that."

"What are accusing me of, Isshin?"

"I'm saying that your only using my son as a replacement for me. But let me tell you something, I was never yours and neither is he."

"How about we save this little quarrel for later," Aizen said calmly. "Ichigo is waiting for you to give him the story that you came all the way here to tell."

Ichigo sat in silence glancing between the two men as each of them spoke. Aizen began the story.

"It all started when your father graduated from the Shinigami Academy and joined my own 5th Squad..."

- - -

Next chapter: The story behind what happened between Isshin and Aizen! I hope you are as excited as I am about it!


	23. The End is a Beginning

**Title: **The Strongest Color

**Chapter Twenty-Three: **The End is a Beginning

**Pairing/Characters: **Aizen/Ichigo, Aizen/Isshin (one-sided)

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

---

Isshin shot Aizen a fierce glare, making it clear that he doesn't appreciate the ex-captain ordering him to do anything; then he spoke to his bewildered son,

"This is probably going to be a lot to take in," he began, "but try to stick with me, got it?"

Ichigo nodded.

Isshin sighed, "It's probably enough of a shock for you to see me here like this." He gestured down at his shinigami robes. "If I had it my way, you wouldn't have had to know about this. Urahara disagreed with me, though. He thought you needed to hear this."

"Urahara?" Ichigo wondered why his dad was talking to Urahara.

"Just stay with me. I will get to that."

There was movement off in the corner of Ichigo's eye; he turned to look and he saw Aizen sit down in the chair kitty-corner from his. He exchanged looks with the man for a moment before Aizen's eyes were drawn to Isshin, and Ichigo also turned his attention back to his father.

"Go on," The boy urged Isshin to start.

"Well, it's like Sosuke said, I joined the 5th Squad right out of the academy. On the first day, the new squad members and I got to meet the Captain personally and he welcomed us into the squad. I never saw much of him after that because I was, after all, just an unseated officer at the time, and I hated every minute of it. So, whenever I wasn't eating, sleeping, or working, I was training to become stronger. I was so dedicated to it that within a year, I had gained a seat in the 5th Squad. Soon after that, Sosuke came to speak to me."

Isshin had no sooner finished that sentence when Aizen continued the story from his point of view.

"I overheard a man talking about your father earlier that day," Aizen began, receiving a look from Isshin, but otherwise the man did not object to him butting in. "He said something about how he devoted nearly all of his free time to training so he could work his way up in the ranks. I became interested in this man, so I promptly left to seek him out. When I found him, I told him about what I heard and asked him if he would like to train under my guidance."

Aizen directed his next thought toward Isshin.

"I did so with an ulterior motive in mind, but I'm sure you know that now, Isshin."

"Like I said before," Isshin replied. "I was a fool for getting involved with you."

The former captain returned his gaze to the boy, continuing where he left off.

"Within the years that followed, I helped Isshin grow stronger and he worked his way up to become the squad's new third seat. After that, I pushed for him to achieve bankai, and he was successful in doing so. We spent a couple of years training his bankai, before something unexpected happened."

Ichigo began to feel a dull pain in his head. He rubbed his forehead for a second and tried his best to ignore it.

"What happened?" he asked, his attention focused again on what the two men had to tell him.

"The 10th Squad Captain suddenly passed away," Aizen said. "The Thirteen Court Guard Squads immediately began searching for someone to fill the position."

"Did you get rid of him?" Isshin asked him. "It seems like just the sort of backstabbing thing you would do, and you and I both know that well."

Aizen's right eye twitched slightly in response to that last comment.

"No, contrary to what you believe, I played no role in his death. However, I do admit it was a coincidence that played greatly in my favor. I nominated Isshin as a candidate for the position, and he was able to pass the Captain Qualification Exam, making him the new 10th Squad Captain."

"You used to be a Captain?" Ichigo looked pleased.

"Only for a year," his father replied. "A year that went by too fast."

The man closed his eyes and exhaled as he knew this next part of the story was never easy on him to relive.

"Sosuke came up to me in the afternoon one day, asking me to visit him later around eleven at night. I agreed and didn't think twice about his request, since we had visited each other several times in that past year. I walked into his chambers that evening, and I noticed he began acting strange when I came in. That was when I asked him if something was wrong and all of a sudden he confesses…he had deep feelings for me."

Isshin barely choked out the last bit, and doing so made him uncomfortable. Ichigo glanced back and forth between the two shinigami as he tried to wrap his head around the idea, but it only managed to make his headache feel that much worse.

"Damn," he thought, "why isn't that medicine Stark gave me working?"

He tried masking his pain from the two shinigami, and he remained stoic as his father continued on.

"Before I could even react to that, however, he starts going on a tangent about hollowfication of shinigami and creating more powerful hollow with the traits of a shinigami. I didn't have any idea where all of it was coming from. I really didn't know how to react, so I just asked him why he was telling me all of that. His reply was…"

"I want you to join with me in overthrowing Soul Society," Aizen cut in, reciting the words from a distant memory. "I had really hoped that back then you would take the offer because I sincerely did grow quite fond of you at the time."

Isshin frowned at the man, and refrained from commenting to that as he spoke again.

"I refused him after having lost all respect for the man I thought I could trust. Disgusted, I turned away from him and started to leave. I wasn't even able to make it to the door before he then stabbed me through the chest with his blade."

Ichigo's eyes widened in shock, and even took a cursory glance at Aizen, who remained unaffected.

"I fell to the ground and my vision began to get hazy. I heard the man sheath his zanpakuto, then he lifted me off the floor and started carrying me somewhere. I fought the urge to close my eyes; however, I must have fallen unconscious at some point because I woke up the feeling of rain falling on my face. Sosuke was bent over me, saying something I couldn't hear. My vision started to blur again, and I reached out to touch him before I fell into unconsciousness again."

There was a moment of silence, and then Isshin spoke again.

"I woke up in a clinic that morning. I was alive, but I had lost my shinigami powers. My Chain Link had been destroyed when I was stabbed. It was frustrating as hell, knowing what I knew at the time and my ticket to returning to Soul Society was gone."

"I couldn't let you die, Isshin," Aizen said. "However, I couldn't let you go out and tell everyone about what I had just told you, now could I?"

"Well, thank you very much for the sentiment," Isshin frowned at the former captain, and then returned to speaking to his son. "I met the two men who found me in front of their clinic and had healed my injury. It was a man called Doctor Kurosaki and his apprentice, Doctor Ishida, whom you know as your grandfather and Uryu Ishida's father, Ichigo."

"Wait a second," Ichigo began. "You mean Aizen left you lying in front of _our _clinic?"

Isshin nodded. "Both of those men had the ability to see ghosts, it was something that ran in old man Kurosaki's family and Ishida, of course, coming from a family of Quincies. They understood my situation that I was a shinigami from Soul Society and my powers had disappeared. Kurosaki told me there is someone living within Karakura Town that would be able to help me. I spent the rest of the day resting in the clinic and the next day I got ready to visit this man. Doctor Kurosaki didn't let me go by myself, so he sent me with his daughter, Masaki, who would be able to help me find the place. I'm sure you know the shop well, Ichigo."

"Urahara's shop," Ichigo replied. "So, what did he do, give you a gigai or something?"

"He did. It took some getting used to at first, but it was better than what I had before. I told him all about what happened between Sosuke and me. As it turns out, you and Urahara have quite a history as well, Sosuke."

Aizen's lips curled into a smirk at that comment.

"I'm not obligated to divulge the details of that story to you, Ichigo. Perhaps you will have the chance to hear that story from someone involved in it."

Ichigo glanced at Aizen; however, Isshin caught him in the act and rephrased his previous sentence.

"Maybe Urahara will get the chance to tell you sometime, Ichigo."

"You don't trust me telling him about that, Isshin?" Aizen smirked again.

"Hell no," Isshin retorted. "I can only imagine what your side of the story would be like."

Ichigo just sat back in his chair, trying his best to stay out of the line of fire between the two.

The boy's father let out a great sigh to calm himself down and quickly returned to his story.

"Urahara wasn't able to help beyond the point of lending me a gigai. I was still frustrated about not being able to use my powers; however, it couldn't be helped. So I spent the next several months at the Kurosaki Clinic, getting to know Masaki, Ryuken, and the old man. Eventually, Ryuken left to go find work elsewhere. I asked the old doctor the night he left if he would teach me how to become a doctor, so that I could start helping him out and somehow try to repay him for saving me. He agreed, and four years later, I became a full-time doctor at the clinic. It was a week after I finished my apprenticeship when I proposed to your mother." Isshin smiled as he spoke. "I really loved her more than anything, and it was such a happy time for us both."

The man's smile suddenly left his face and his attitude became somber when he told his son,

"Fate sure is cruel. You see, a month before the wedding, old man Kurosaki suddenly became extremely ill and passed away. Masaki was heart broken because he was the only family she had left. I did my best to cheer her up, reminding her that she wasn't alone anymore because I was there and I wasn't planning on going anywhere."

Isshin bowed his head, fighting back the tears those memories brought with them. No one in the room said anything, both Ichigo and Aizen let him take his time and pull it back together. However, with the silence that filled the room, Ichigo felt the pain continue to pound in his head. He looked up, and after confirming that Aizen wasn't watching him, he rubbed his temples for a couple seconds before looking back up again. By then, Aizen was watching him, and he lifted an eyebrow as a silent question. The boy ignored him, turning his attention back to his father, and the man looked back up when he felt his son's stare on him.

"Sorry about that, Ichigo," he said.

"There's nothing you need to apologize for," Ichigo replied.

Isshin looked satisfied by that answer, so he cleared his throat and spoke.

"When your mother and I were married, I took Kurosaki as my last name as somewhat of a tribute to the old man. I started up the Kurosaki Clinic again with the help of Masaki. And then, a year later, we were blessed with our first child."

Isshin gave Ichigo a smile, which seemed to lighten the boy up a little.

"The year that followed was one of the happiest I ever had. Then one day when I returned home from running errands, Masaki came running to me looking as if she had just seen the devil. I asked her what was wrong, and she told me about this man that had come into the clinic asking for me. She told him that I wasn't around, but that I would be back later. The man looked kind so she said she began to talk to him and he asked about her and Ichigo, who she was holding at the time."

The black-haired shinigami looked up at Aizen as he said,

"She had asked for the man's name. The man had who visited the clinic that day was you, you bastard."

Aizen sat back in his chair with a smirk on his face.

"Masaki was scared out her mind and it took me forever just to get her to stop trembling. She was scared you would come and take Ichigo from us. According to her, you had your eyes on him nearly the entire time you were there."

"I was interested in him, yes," Aizen stated calmly. "But I wasn't planning on taking him away. You must have known at that time too that he had powers within him, which he inherited from you."

"Yes, I knew that. Especially when he started growing up and his spiritual pressure began to leak out. It was thanks to him that my shinigami powers returned."

Isshin leaned closer to Aizen and said,

"You are not using my son as a substitute for me."

Aizen replied calmly to him, "I had given up on you fourteen years ago, Isshin. I don't carry any lingering feelings about that past."

"It doesn't matter, Sosuke. I still don't like the idea of Ichigo hanging around with you."

"Dad," Ichigo finally made his way into the conversation, "just knock it off."

The boy began to get frustrated with the way this talk had gone. At the same time, he felt his headache suddenly explode into an unbearable throbbing pain. He bowed his head, resting it on his right palm. He could hear his father's voice, and even though he knew he was sitting right next to him, it sounded so distant. Before he knew what had happened, his vision began to blur and he fell out of his chair and hit the floor unconscious.

Isshin immediately leapt out of his chair and turned Ichigo over on his back, holding the boy's head on his left arm. Aizen had also gotten out of his chair and he bent down on one knee next to the two of them.

"Ichigo," his father called to him, trying to wake him up. "Dammit, what's wrong with him?"

Before anyone could say anything else, Ichigo began to scream.

---

I was happy that I got this done for Ichigo's birthday. I've been working on Isshin's story for several months so I hope it came out okay. As for the next chapter, I will do my best to get it up ASAP.


	24. Loyalty In Exchange For Power

**Title: **The Strongest Color

**Chapter Twenty-Four: **Loyalty In Exchange For Power

**Pairing/Characters: **Aizen/Ichigo, Shuhei, Renji, Ikkaku, Yamamoto, Shunsui, Jushiro, Isshin

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

---

When Ichigo came to, he was on his feet and two men were on each side of him restraining the boy's arms. He saw many figures standing several paces away from him, and as his vision returned, he recognized many of the faces as the current captains and lieutenants of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. They were all standing in a circle with their zanpakutos unsheathed, and they were all looking at something in the center. One of the shinigami, who he recognized was Shuhei Hisagi from the 9th Squad, took a step to the side, giving Ichigo a clear view of what everyone was watching. There, in the center of the ring of shinigami, stood a bound and defenseless Sosuke Aizen.

Ichigo called out to the man, "Aizen!"

The former captain's eyes glanced at the substitute shinigami for just a second before he returned his gaze to somewhere beyond the enemies that surrounded him. One of the men that held Ichigo spoke,

"He's finally going to get what he deserves."

It was Renji who said it as he held onto the boy's left arm. Ichigo looked to his right and saw that the other man who had his right arm pinned was Ikkaku.

"What are you guys doing?" Ichigo said as he struggled against their grip. "Let me go!"

"Just be quiet and watch, Ichigo," Ikkaku told him.

The substitute shinigami's gaze returned to the group of shinigami as they assumed their fighting stances. When all blades were aimed at Aizen, the head captain issued the order. In a blink of an eye, the shinigami leapt forward and thrust their zanpakutos at the traitor in front of them. Aizen did not let his expression give away how much pain he was in as the swords were stabbed throughout his body; he wouldn't give his enemies the pleasure. The blades were pulled out all at once causing the man to cough out blood onto the floor.

Ichigo lost it at that point, and he suddenly began screaming the former captain's name all the while trying to break away from Renji and Ikkaku. The two shinigami let the boy go, just as Aizen fell to the ground. Ichigo frantically ran over to him, pushing Shunsui and Jushiro aside as he stepped inside the circle. One look at the body told him that he was too late to save him; Aizen was dead.

The orange-haired boy dropped to his knees next to the man's body and the tears began to fall from his face. He could feel everyone's eyes on him as they watched their hero break down in front of them, but Ichigo didn't care. It had become uncontrollable now, and in between his cries he could almost hear Aizen's voice calling out to him.

"Why did this have to happen?" Ichigo thought. "Everyone I love gets hurt, and I'm powerless to save them!"

He heard the man's voice calling him again, and it sounded as if it was louder than it was the first time.

"Why can hear his voice inside my head? What's happening to me?"

Again, he heard Aizen's voice, but at a much greater volume than the previous ones.

"I'm here," Ichigo called back and just as he did, his vision began to blur just as he experienced a strange sensation that felt like his body was being pulled out of water.

- - -

The substitute shinigami's eyes opened at once as he regained consciousness again. He glanced up to see the concerned face of his father and felt the man's grip loosen up on his shoulder. Ichigo tilted his head and saw Aizen down on his knees next to him, his right hand outstretched to where it rested on the boy's forehead.

"What happened?" Ichigo asked in a hoarse voice, his throat raw from screaming.

Aizen didn't say anything; instead he removed his hand from Ichigo's forehead and wiped a tear from the teenager's cheek. Ichigo immediately pushed himself up so that he was sitting on the floor and dried the rest with his sleeve. Aizen had pulled his hand away as the boy sat up, but he, as well as Isshin, remained down next to Ichigo for the moment. The boy lowered his hand back down to his side and remained sitting with his back facing the two shinigami. He felt his cheeks burn in embarrassment for having cried in front of Aizen and his father.

"Ichigo," Isshin spoke to him, breaking the silence. "Come sit back on the chair."

His son nodded and slowly stood up, and the two men behind him followed suit. Isshin helped Ichigo back into his original chair, much to the boy's displeasure, and returned to his own. Aizen walked over to a cart that was placed off by the former captain's seat where he poured some tea into a cup and offered it to Ichigo. The substitute shinigami took it gratefully and drank from it slowly, feeling the liquid soothe his throat as he did. Aizen returned to his seat and told him,

"Before I speak my part, I want to know what you saw just then."

Ichigo lowered his cup and held it on his lap, looking at his reflection in the liquid. He glanced up at Aizen, who returned it with only a blank stare. The boy then acquiesced and told Aizen and Isshin about what he had experienced in his mind, including details about how Aizen was executed. Ichigo stopped at that point and shivered.

"It was just so real, it didn't feel like a dream at all," Ichigo told them.

Isshin looked back and forth between Ichigo and Aizen and he shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He seemed to be debating something in his head, but with a nod to motivate himself, he was able to speak what he had on his mind.

"Ichigo," he began, addressing his son. "While you were unconscious, you started screaming. Once you finally stopped, you began to shed some tears. That was something I've never seen you do in six years."

"That's because," Ichigo paused, looking unsure about whether or not he should finish his thought. "It's because I was scared."

The substitute shinigami lowered his head, looking at his pathetic reflection in the cup.

"It reminded me of the night when Mom was killed, and how I was too weak to save her or to do anything. Dammit!"

Isshin reached over and put his hand on his son's shoulder, the action was somewhat awkward in realization that he hadn't comforted the boy since his childhood. He squeezed Ichigo's shoulder and brought his hand back to his side. The boy's father looked up at Aizen, who was currently lost in thought as he watched Ichigo, and he spoke to his former friend in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Isn't there something you were going to tell him, Sosuke?"

The former captain exchanged looks with Isshin, who gave him a cold stare. He then turned his attention back to the orange-haired shinigami and said in a composed manner,

"I have some troubling news." He paused and began to explain. "While you were unconsciously screaming, I was able to create a temporary link between our minds using a technique I created myself, though it is only in the experimental stage. I could feel another presence inside your mind and after listening to your account of it, I know with certainty that it was the Executioner that caused your vision."

Ichigo stared at the man and his eyes widened in shock of the truth.

"But, I thought that you got rid of him."

"I didn't, I had just removed his control of your body but not your mind. That would take a power which I do not possess."

Aizen sat up, and placed his hands on both of the chair's armrests.

"Ichigo, do you remember when I told you that what a person sees in the Nightmare Room is a manifestation of their greatest fear?"

"Yeah, I remember," Ichigo frowned.

"I have a theory pertaining to how the Executioner could access your mind and take control of you. What you feared the most was that the hollow inside you would take complete control and consume you, so what you saw in that room was your hollow side."

"Wait a second," Ichigo stopped him. "How do you know that, I never told you anything about it."

Aizen let out a soft chuckle, "I've known that before you even set foot in Hueco Mundo. I saw the way you struggled to hold back your hollow during your fight with Yammy, thanks to Ulquiorra's report. It seemed only obvious that your hollow would be your fear that appeared in the room. The Executioner took advantage of that and set it up so that you would have to fight your hollow. However, when you defeated him, the Executioner was able to enter your mind in his place."

"Damn him," Ichigo clenched his open hand into a fist in frustration. "Isn't there anything we can do?"

"There is only one solution I have come up with," Aizen said. "Your friend, Orihime Inoue, has the power to reject reality and turn back time. If she could use that power on you to make it so that the Executioner had never entered your mind then we could solve one problem. After that, there's this situation with your hollow taking over you that needs to be resolved. I can offer you a solution."

"Don't you even dare say it!" Isshin threatened Aizen, but the man ignored him.

"I can use the hougyoku to turn you into a vizard."

"You could do that?" Ichigo was surprised, he knew that it could create arrancar but not that it could help make someone a vizard as well.

"Ichigo, don't listen to him," Isshin said in an authoritative voice.

"What do you expect me to do then?" Ichigo argued. "Do you want me to turn into a hollow and die? And you can forget about me joining the vizards just so that they can help me control my hollow. I think I'll trust Aizen before I do Shinji, I don't even know anything about that guy."

"This bastard cannot be trusted, Ichigo. I thought you would have at least learned that from what I told you not too long ago. I don't want you making the same mistake I did. He will only use you."

"He already has, Dad, back in Soul Society when I went to rescue Rukia."

"Don't say it likes it's nothing!" Isshin snapped back at his son.

"I can make my own decisions, dammit! I'm not a little kid anymore."

Isshin sighed and began rubbing his temples. There was no changing the boy's mind so there was no point in arguing.

"I'll just leave you be then," he said, standing up from his chair.

"Wait!" Ichigo called to his father.

"You're going to have to go back to the real world if you want Orihime to heal you. Just come find me when you're ready to leave, and we will go back together."

With that said, Isshin excused himself from the room, leaving Aizen and Ichigo alone to continue their discussion. There was a silent moment between the two before Ichigo finally spoke to the other man.

"You could really do that, use the hougyoku on me," he said, bringing the subject back to where it was a while ago.

"I had intended to since the beginning, but only with your consent," Aizen replied. "I have only one condition that you must agree to if I do this."

"What is it?" Ichigo asked hesitantly, not sure if he was going to like what Aizen would say next.

"When this war is ready to be set in motion, I will give you an order. If you want me to help you control your hollow, you will swear to me that you will follow through with this order no matter what."

Ichigo thought about it for a moment, weighing his options. Of course, he wanted to take Aizen's offer, but…

"I'm not asking you to fight on my side, Ichigo," Aizen interrupted the boy's thoughts. "Once you complete the order, you can do whatever you wish to."

Ichigo stared into the former captain's eyes and stated with assurance,

"I will do it."

Aizen smiled with satisfaction from the substitute shinigami's answer. The older shinigami then stood up from where he was seated and said,

"Come with me, there's something I should give you before you leave."

Ichigo was curious now, so he got up out of his chair quickly and followed behind Aizen as they left the room and began to make their way through one of the many long hallways that filled Las Noches. The teenager noticed, to his surprise, that there weren't any arrancar around as they traversed through the hallways.

"Probably because of what happened when the Executioner was let loose," Ichigo thought. "Several were killed and the rest might be working on cleaning up the mess."

He lowered his eyes. Even though he didn't have any control over the situation, Ichigo continued to blame himself for what happened. If he closed his eyes, he could still see the faces of the arrancar as they took their finally breath.

"You're very compassionate, even towards your enemies," Aizen spoke to him without a glance back.

Ichigo looked up, surprised.

"You were thinking about when you lost your control to the Executioner."

"You know?"

"You slowed down when you walked. I could sense your change in mood."

"You know just about everything, don't you?"

Aizen smiled a little in response, though he didn't let Ichigo see it. They continued walking in silence until the two shinigami were standing next to a close door, which was presumed to be their destination. Aizen opened the door and stepped into the room first with Ichigo following him.

The boy took in his surroundings, and noticed that the room the older man had led him to turned out to be a bedroom. There was a large, four poster bed at the left end of the room and a sitting area in one corner near the bed. The right end of the bedroom held a wardrobe and a long, white chest. It was simplistic, much like many of the rooms in Las Noches, but it had a grand feeling to it because of the tall ceiling and the large, half moon shaped balcony that was located directly across from the doorway.

Ichigo stepped further inside, his gaze focused on the sight that could be seen from the balcony. There were no doors to the balcony that blocked the view of the desert, making it almost look like it was a painting on the wall. Aizen watched the boy from a few feet away as he took in the room. Ichigo returned his attention to the man as a thought crossed his mind and asked,

"This wouldn't happen to be your room?"

"It is," Aizen replied.

Ichigo fidgeted, shifting his weight from one leg to the other. He couldn't help but feel uneasy, being alone with Aizen in his bedroom. The boy watched the former captain from a distance as the man open the wardrobe and took something out of it then promptly shut it again. He turned to face Ichigo with a shinigami outfit in his hands.

"You're going to give it back to me?" Ichigo questioned.

"I believe it would be best for you to show up wearing this," Aizen stated. "That way, Soul Society won't question you too much."

"You want them to trust that I'm not on your side," the boy guessed.

"It will make things easier for you later," Aizen told him as he handed him the set of clothes.

Ichigo nodded, knowing that the traitor was talking about his future order. He took the clothes from Aizen's hands and frowned. The substitute shinigami looked around the room and he started to feel uneasy again.

"You know, this probably isn't the greatest place to be undressing," he commented to the older man hoping that he would get the message.

Aizen smirked. "You realize, Ichigo, that if I wanted to I could have done it many times before this. That time when you were taking a bath is a great example."

Ichigo felt his face heat up and he avoided looking directly into Aizen's eyes. Before anything else could be spoken between the two, he ran off to the corner of the room where the seating area was and began to change clothes as fast as humanly possible. Aizen watched him from the other side of the room, and the boy made sure to keep his back facing the man the entire time. Once all of his shinigami gear was on, he turned back around to the former captain.

Ichigo stared into Aizen's eyes and stepped toward him, closing the gap between them. He stood within arms length of the man and for a long while neither of them spoke.

"You really are in love with me, then?" Ichigo asked and it took all the courage he could muster just to do it.

"Yes," Aizen replied. "You mean a great deal to me, Ichigo."

Ichigo could feel his cheeks burning again, and he looked at Aizen, wishing he could be as cool and calm about this as he was.

"I really hated you when you first brought me here," Ichigo told the man, which didn't come as a surprise to him. "But somewhere along the way, I lost that."

Aizen didn't reply, instead he waited for Ichigo to continue.

"I didn't realize it until I was on the brink of death, but during the time I spent here my feelings started to change. I'm still not really sure why."

Ichigo swallowed.

"I'm in love with you," the substitute shinigami blurted out, his face now completely red.

Aizen was somewhat taken aback by the sudden confession, but it was just for a fleeting moment. The former captain smiled at the boy, and it was the first time Ichigo had seen him do it without some sort of scornful look behind it. Aizen stepped closer to him and placed his right hand on Ichigo's cheek.

"You really are interesting, Ichigo," he spoke and leaned his face close enough for Ichigo to be able to feel his breath.

Without even thinking of it, Ichigo leaned the rest of the way into Aizen, pressing his lips on the former captain's own. Aizen laid his free hand on the small of Ichigo's back and pressed his body against his. They remained like that for a while, lost in the moment where their bodies and lips seemed to melt together. Aizen broke the kiss reluctantly, however, he still held the boy close against him. There weren't any words to be said between them. Before Aizen let go of Ichigo, he gave him a peck on the lips and let his hands fall back to his sides.

"That felt good," was all Ichigo could say.

"For both of us, then," Aizen agreed.

Ichigo stepped away from the older man to retrieve Zangetsu, which was currently leaning against one of the chairs. He strapped the zanpakuto onto his shoulder and turned back to Aizen.

"This is where I leave then," he stated.

"Don't be afraid to spend some time with your friends," Aizen told him. "Wait outside your house tomorrow morning, I'll send someone out to bring you back here."

Ichigo nodded and gave the man a smile.

"Thank you," he said and left the room.

The substitute shinigami tracked down his father's spiritual pressure and ran into him in one of the hallways. Isshin was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his shoulders, but when he saw Ichigo approach he stepped off the wall and walked over to meet his son.

"You're ready to go then?" Isshin asked.

"Yeah, let's go," Ichigo replied.

The boy's father motioned toward a garganta, the one he had used to get to Hueco Mundo. Isshin stepped into it first and Ichigo followed right behind him, both of the shinigami on their way back to Karakura Town.

- - -

I want to give a big thank you to all the readers and especially those of you who review. If it weren't for you guys I would have quit this fic a long time ago. As long as you all keep reading, I will do my best to keep writing! I've got six chapters and an epilogue left to go until this fic is completed.


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